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Archive for Foie gras

Tata’s Two

Jul26

Restaurant: Tata’s Cafe [1, 2]

Location: 12627 Hawthorne Blvd, Hawthorne, CA 90250. (424) 675-4168

Date: October 20, 2022

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Great ingredients and a lot of fun

_

My good friend Jeff Bovon owns and operates this unusual restaurant in Hawthorne. He’s part chef, part food importer and supplier, being a purveyor of super high quality seafood and meats and he basically took over this little cafe and turned it into a very unusual destination. Chevy setup a big custom group dinner.

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The interior is basically a little Hawthorne cafe that’s been mildly scaled up.

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60 day dry aged Tomohawk — too old — but ambitious.
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Giant lobsters
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Cold Seafood plater. Very nice. The red sauce on the scallop (a sweet chili sauce) was pretty good too.
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Steamed Littleneck Clams. With a mild curry flavor.
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Seared Branzino. The fish was nice, but the green spicy tomatillo sauce was amazing!
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Leering at us.
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Seared A5 Wagyu. Super tender and probably the best “main.”

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60 day dry aged Tomohawk. I actually didn’t like it at all, too “cheesy” and funky.
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Baked Lobster Tails. These, however, were awesome. I think I had three.
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Creamed spinach — rich but great.
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Sautéed mushrooms. Nice.
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Brussels. Also good.
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My personal plate.
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Cheese plate.
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Dessert plate.
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Pure and Concentrated Evil — Kentucky Mud Pie Gelato — Expresso Knob Creek Bourbon Custard Gelato base with layers of house-made Crushed Oreo Valrhona Fudge Ganache, and house-made Vanilla Coconut Cream Cheese Icing — The Plaid Mode of Gelati and includes a hefty Caffeine kick — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #coconut #valrhona #chocolate #ganache #expresso #bourbon #custard #oreos #icing
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Summertime calls for — Yuzu Meyer Lemon Sorbetto — Japanese Yuzu Juice, Fresh Meyer Lemon Juice — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #yuzu #meyer #lemon
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We had a very fun time. Big group and diverse wines with a LOT of food. I mean a LOT of food, even by our standards!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Soot Bull Jeep
  2. Teatime at Tata’s
  3. China Red by Day
  4. Không Tên – Brunch
  5. Sauvages – LQ goes Italian
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: A5, BYOG, fish, Foie gras, Gelato, Jeff Bovon, Seafood, Steak, Tata's Cafe, Wagyū

Saddle Up Again

Feb20

Restaurant: Saddle Peak Lodge [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Location: 419 Cold Canyon Rd, Calabasas, CA 91302 (818) 222-3888

Date: January 11, 2018

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Great ambiance and terrific game oriented food.

_

Ever year, both in the summer and winter, we Hedonists return to Saddle Peak Lodge. It’s pretty much the perfect venue for both a winter or summer food and wine blast, with gorgeous lodge patio, game driven food, and awesome wine service. For those of you who don’t know, Hedonist events have amazing wines (each diner brings at least one bottle).

Saddle Peak Ranch used to be a game lodge back in the early part of the 20th century. The rich and famous used to come up and hunt Malibu’s finest, such as this poor fellow. Now the deer are just served up on the menu.

The private room.

They offer a tasting menu, but our party likes to order ala carte. I’d actually like to build our own custom tasting menu which we sort of half managed to do tonight.

The regular menu. They have confusingly moved a bunch of the sides into starters — even though they make no sense as starters.

Stuffed animals!

The place was DEAD on this particular night. I didn’t see anyone else upstairs.

A freebee from my cellar. It’s a cheap “like rose champagne” from the Jura. Many of us actually liked it better next to the Billecart!

Pretzel bread and butter.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

2013 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. VM 91-94. Bright, subdued aromas of pear drop and citrus fruit. Densely packed and saline in the mouth, offering terrific stony energy and depth along with a sexy impression of sucrosite . Still tight, austere and uncompromisingly dry for all its richness. More obviously soil-driven than the foregoing samples–really classic stony Chablis premier cru.

From my cellar: 1985 Nicolas Potel Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. BH 91. A very fresh yet mature nose of citrus, white flower and lightly toasted nut aromas combines with round and vibrant middle weight flavors that possess a seductive and rich mouth feel, all wrapped in a sappy and mouth coating finish. This is really a lovely effort with complexity and ample finishing punch and is a wine that will continue to hold well if not improve.

agavin: this bottle was more oxidized than the first I opened

2014 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne-Montrachet Les Ancegnières. BH 89-91. Mild reduction doesn’t significantly diminish the appeal of the citrus and slightly exotic fruit and petrol aromas. The solidly intense and delineated middle weight plus flavors are supported by a well-integrated acid spine and refreshing citrus nuances on the lingering finish. This is a quality Chassagne villages and worth considering.

2009 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 93. A discreet touch of wood sets off aromas of dried rose petal, lemon grass and green apple that precede rich, full and obviously well-muscled big-bodied flavors that possess an intense minerality on the powerful, driving and palate staining finish that delivers simply terrific persistence. This imposing effort is most impressive and should offer up to a decade of potential improvement.

Potato leek soup. These soup amuses are kinda boring.

1999 Château d’Yquem. JG 93.  I was very surprised to like the 1999 Yquem a bit better than I liked the 2001, as the vintage in general seems to be decidedly stronger in Sauternes in 2001. The 1999 Yquem offers up a complex and classic nose of toasted coconut, oranges, honey, butter, lovely soil tones, fresh apricot and a lovely framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and quite crisp, with lovely focus and balance, excellent mid-palate depth and a very long, bright and poised finish. A lovely bottle of Yquem.

Seared Foie gras with brioche and apples. An excellent seared prep, special ordered.

And served with the perfect pairing of d’Yquem!

1994 R. López de Heredia Rioja Viña Tondonia.

Warm Octopus “Pouche-Grille”, Chermoula, Potato, Mache, Parsley, Lemon Vinaigrette. This was the weakest dish, overly warm and tough.

1999 Delas Frères Hermitage Marquise de la Tourette. VM 90+. Moderately saturated medium ruby. Roasted berries and leather on the rather shy nose. Juicy, firm and flinty on the palate; not nearly as full or explosive as the Cote-Rotie La Landonne but very nicely delineated and subtly aromatic in the mouth. Finishes very long, with fine but serious tannins.

Bandera Quail, Charred Onions, Fingerling Potato, Sage Soubise. This was tasty enough with a very strong char flavor.

1998 Le Petit Cheval. 89 points. Deep colour. And on the nose, deep fruit, seasoned with a little fresh garden mint and green peppercorn. This is fine. Integrating tannins on the palate which still provide a good structure, flavoured with a little coffee and mint. Delightfully structured wine, very approachable now, but will do some short term development I think.

Beef Tartare, wasabi, smoked avocado, crispy rice, herbs.

1997 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon. VM 94.  Bright, dark red. Wild, sexy scents of raspberry, game, olive tapenade, pepper, cedar, mocha and mountain herbs are wonderfully perfumed and subtle. This firmly built, aromatic midweight Cabernet is not especially voluptuous or generous but has the energy and definition to continue to improve for years. Savory more than sweet but still with terrific dark fruit retention. This classic ageworthy wine (Old World comes to Spring Mountain?) still shows some reserve but is impeccably balanced. Finishes with perfectly buffered tannins and subtle rising length.

Mushroom agnolotti.

2002 Lail Vineyards J. Daniel Cuvée. 92 points. Not my type of wine. Big wine, might be more approachable in 5 – 10 years, but now it was way too big a wine for my taste. palate and nose dominated by cherries and chocolate, almost sweet. Wine was huge, good balance, tannins were resolved…just not my cup of tea.

Roasted Mushrooms, bone marrow, persilade, red wine, butter pastry. This was delicious. Like a mushroom pot pie.

Spaghetti Rustichella, white shrimp, uni butter, chili flake and garlic. Solid dish. Nice and buttery. Hint of spice.

Cast Iron Johnnycake, maple butter. Awesome!

Mac & Cheese, 4 cheeses, gouda, aged cheddar, reggiano, jack. Good, but a little dry.

1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. JG 93+.  I have always been a fan of the 1989 Château Beaucastel, which I rank just behind the superb 1981 at this fine estate. The most recent bottle I tasted of this wine was still just a touch youthful, but offered up fine complexity on both the nose and palate and shows excellent promise. The bouquet is a blend of roasted fruitcake, cherries, new leather, venison, incipient notes of sous bois, woodsmoke and hot stones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and rock solid at the core, with a bit of tannin still to resolve, fine focus and grip and a very long, classy and slightly chewy finish. I would be tempted to give this wine a few more years to really resolve, as it will be a superb wine and it would be most enjoyable to drink it at the same plateau that the 1981 has been enjoying for a good decade already.

From my cellar: 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. JG 92+. The 1990 Château Beaucastel is a lovely wine and is just about ready for primetime drinking, but will continue to improve over the coming five or six years and then cruise along for decades from that point forward. The bouquet offers up a fine blend of dried raspberries and red currants, roasted game, incipient autumnal tones (fallen leaves) and a potpourri of spice tones in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and a touch leathery in personality, with a good core, melting tannins and fine length and grip on the complex finish. Having had the good fortune to drink several older vintages of Beaucastel at peak maturity, my gut instinct with the 1990 would be to let it rest in the cellar for just a few more years and allow the last layer of aromatic complexity to emerge here, though it must be said that the wine is really lovely on the palate right now.

2003 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 92. Dark red. Vibrant raspberry, blackberry, floral and spice aromas convey impressive purity and freshness. Supple and sweet, with deep red fruit flavors, hints of floral pastille and baking spices and gentle tannins. This wine has more grenache than usual for the property, which makes it one of the most graceful (despite the hot vintage) wines I’ve had from the Perrins. Clean and energetic on the finish, which echoes the red fruit and floral qualities. A touch of heat takes my score down a hair, but this is Chateauneuf, after all. I scored this wine 93 points on release.

Game Trio with Emu, Elk, and Bison.

Game Quadro adding in Water Buffalo.

Braised Bison Short Rib, smoked miso-potato puree, blistered asparagus, peppery jelly.

Water Buffalo Loin, dates, brown butter, brussels sprouts, grapes, juniper, blackberry.

Amaroo Farms Emu Strip, balsamic onions, potato, spinach, red wine jus.

Elk Tenderloin, bacon jam, cranberry, crispy yam strings.

Left over from the night before.

8oz Filet Mignon, mushroom, potato puree, pea greens, cider glazed carrots & turnips.

New Zealand Lamb Rack, smoked miso potatoes, blistered asparagus, pepper jam.

French fries.

Dessert menu.

1971 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Gran Reserva. 92 points. Seb brought this and didn’t even know it was super sweet. It was great though!
Cappuccino Cream, hazelnut fudge & cocoa crumble.

Banana & huckleberry bread pudding, Tahitian Vanilla bean ice cream.

Valrhona Brownie, chocolate cremeux caramelized white chocolate, raspberry, bourbon barrel ice cream.

Sorbet. Coconut, blackberry, and I can’t remember. Nice texture but way too mild in flavor.

This night was typical of Saddlepeak in recent years. Food is good. Prices are a bit high. Service is super nice and they really try — but the format isn’t perfect for wine dinners. I’d rather do it in family style waves rather than a few huge courses.

Our wines were mixed tonight with many very good but a few flawed.

Click here for more LA restaurant reviews,
Or for Hedonist extravaganzas.

Related posts:

  1. Saddle Peaked
  2. Saddle Peak Again?!?
  3. Saddle Peak Peaks
  4. Hedonism at Saddle Peak Lodge
  5. Food as Art: Saddle Peak Lodge
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Foie gras, Meat, Saddle Peak Lodge, Wine

Sumo Bowl Yamakase

May25

Restaurant: Yamakase [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: You wish you knew!

Date: May 20, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Best yet!

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Yamakase is just hands down one of the most fun evenings in LA. Not only is the “modern” Japanese cuisine incredible, but the convivial nature of the place is just great. It’s not very big and as usual we took the entire sushi bar (we had 10 this time, but you can squeeze in 11 or 12). This is my second time at the new location and while the back was empty first time around, this time there were 8 or so people at 2-3 tables back in the “depths” of the restaurant.

The location is in a good neighborhood, but something about this particular strip mall is a bit sketchy. Maybe it’s the 7/11. There are a lot of strange characters hanging about.

Inside, chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto unpacks his giant slabs of tuna.

We start with a bang! 2003 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil. VM 94+. The 2003 Clos du Mesnil is insanely beautiful. Vivid, resonant and textured in the glass, the 2003 boasts magnificent depth and pure breed. Since I last tasted it a few months ago, the 2003 has begun to shut down, which is probably a great sign for its future and overall longevity. Hints of smoke, slate and dried pear gradually open up in the glass, but the 2003 mostly stands out for its exceptional finesse.

Homemade tofu, Momotaro tomato, and sweet shrimp. A “typical” Yamakase tofu dish. Great interplay of textures and flavors. I could even handle the tomato!

1998 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon P2. VM 95. The 1998 Dom Pérignon P2 is open and beautifully expressive today. Unusually open for a young P2, the 1998 drinks well upon release, especially compared to the 1996, which was virtually unapproachable for the first few years after release. That is not at all the case with the 1998, which is quite open at this stage. Hints of apricot, almond, white flowers and chamomile add texture on the fleshy, resonant finish. The added time on the lees has given the P2 an added dimension of texture.

Abalone with eel sauce. The crunchy chewy mollusk simply served and delicious.

2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 99+. At first sight a lovely bright golden colour. A very charismatic fresh nose, promise of natural intensity and elegance with strong presence of fruits, fruits of all types. A diverse bouquet of orange aromas with some notes of liquorice and light chocolate biscuit can be enjoyed.
On the palate, astonishing, balanced and delicate with significant fresh, tropical, wild and crystalised fruits. It is a hymn to fruit: red, white and citrus fruit with notes of cassis, chocolate, candied-orange peel, cocoa beans, honey with hints of smoke and toast enhanced by a vibrant, persistent long finish. It is a balanced dialogue between Pinot Noir (40%) and Chardonnays (39%) with Meunier (21%).

Persimmon butter sandwich. This is an odd one, but delicious. The orange stripes are dried persimmon which has been hung to dry for months. This is a traditional Japanese New Year preparation and very highly prized. The lighter stripe is frozen high end butter! Almost like a little petite four.

Mantis shrimp, baby peach, scallop, seaweed. I loved the sweet/tangy sauce too. Very lovely.

1985 Louis Jadot Montrachet Le Montrachet. 90 points. Still intact, deep yellow, but fruit a bit faded.

Fresh steamed eel and baby squid. Lovely textures. I think the green things were bits of sisho too, or shiso flowers.

1986 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet. 94 points. From a virtually perfect bottle, this wine had a deep yellow center and clear rims. Not surprisingly, the nose was rather closed at first. Eventually, the high- intensity nose showed apples, vanilla, macaroons, and white stone. In the mouth, this wine was reasonably ripe and rich but the wine’s majesty came from its powerful acidity. Not surprisingly, it showed awesome length after some time.

Scallop or clam with salmon row and steamed ice fish. These tiny little fish are so cute!

2007 Louis Latour Montrachet. BH 95. A deft touch of wood serves as a background presence for the reserved but fresh and bright floral, citrus, brioche and spice aromas that are strikingly complex and broad and complement the full-bodied flavors that are deep, dense and massive with exceptionally powerful drive and intensity on the gorgeously long and palate staining finish. This is an impressive wine blessed with great underlying material, perfect balance and superb harmony plus it’s built for the long haul. Note however that the expressiveness of the nose aside, the flavors are like a block of stone and thus I would suggest not opening a bottle for the next few years as it would likely be a complete waste.

Oyster, uni, quail egg, caviar. One of these super Yamakase spoons of crazy umami-rich ingredients.

1979 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Pommard 1er Cru Les Grands Épenots. JG 92. Or bottle was in great shape!

Seared beef, foie gras, and a foie gras sauce. Rich and delicious.

From my cellar: 2002 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Montrachet. Burghound 93. Tight yet fragrant aromas of stunning complexity reveal hints of peach, pear and a trace of wood spice, leading to large-scaled, extremely ripe flavors that stain the palate with wave after wave of sappy extract. Exceptionally powerful and very masculine, this is a very backward wine today with impressive focus and precision and it will require a minimum of 5 to 7 years of cellar time to arrive at its peak, though it should be capable of lasting a good deal longer.

Frozen toro, uni, and blue crab on toast. This toast and rich toro/crab combo is so good. Like a super high end version of a tuna sandwich.

From my cellar: 2000 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les . BH 94. Razor sharp aromas of wet rocks, earth and white fruits meld into flavors that are crystalline in their precision, purity and transparency. Understated, discreet and fine yet this is painfully intense with buckets of minerality. Quite backward presently but this is a genuinely breathtaking wine that defines class. In two words, absolutely brilliant and consistent notes.

agavin: our bottle was fabulous. still reduced even.

Truffle, crab, quail egg, uni parfait. Classic Yamakase greatness. White truffles apparently this time of year. In December it was black.

1999 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Canet. BH 92. Slightly exotic fruit (often a characteristic of Champs Canet) with notes of pineapple and banana with that mouth watering Granny Smith apple acidity. Marvelous intensity on the mid-palate that continues on to the long, powerful yet discreet finish. Not flashy and in fact rather understated for Champs Canet but it has arrived at its peak and is drinking perfectly now. Impressive in that it’s generous yet precise and pure with lovely harmony of expression.

Some kind of delightful raw shrimp or such in a dressing.

Bluefin tuna, caviar. Some of the best chunks of tuna I’ve had.

2000 Faiveley Corton-Charlemagne. BH 91. The nose is still relatively fresh though the aromatic profile is one of a fully mature white burg, offering up notes of dried flowers, green apple and citrus hints that are also picked up by the elegant and pure medium-bodied flavors that display some wood influence on the otherwise admirably long finish. This is a Corton-Charlemagne of finesse and about the only nit is that one could wish for a bit more mid-palate concentration. No other recent experiences.

Yama’s new assistant plating.

Foie gras, toro, quail egg, truffle cheese, blue crab. Wow! This dish was absolutely out of this world. Just crazy rich and delicious. You wouldn’t think it works, but it’s amazing.
 Uh oh, crabs!
 King crab, steamed. Simple steamed fresh crab.
 At work in the kitchen — which is right behind the sushi bar.

From my cellar: 1997 Joseph Drouhin Romanée St. Vivant. 93 points. Garnet color, with light bricking on the rim. Red fruits on the nose, with some spice as well. The red fruits are also present on the palate. Long finish. Very good given the vintage and kept very well.

The chef is working on his ramen broth. Bright yellow eggy noodles.

Ultimate ramen bowl. This foie gras based seafood broth was topped with truffles and filled with yummy seafood bits. Underneath are the ramen noodles. There was crab, beef, oyster, and who knows what else in here. Absolutely stunning. So rich. So good. The broth had quite a white pepper kick too which was amazing.

Because I asked I got the lefthand “sumo” bowl as my personal portion. It was so large even I couldn’t finish it! Almost though.

From my cellar: 1982 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs. Burghound 88. Superb nose of dried rose petals trimmed in minerals and damp earth follow by middle weight, slightly thinning flavors that display excellent complexity and frankly more structure than the mid-palate sap can adequately buffer on the finish. That said, this receives its marks for the sheer breadth of flavors and the clean, pure character. This is a first rate effort in what was a very difficult vintage.

agavin: 94 points. I thought this was drinking great.

This is real Japanese Wagyu, from Miyazaki. It comes with a certificate of authenticity that includes the cow’s nose print and stats. Yeah, the actual animal.

Miyazaki beef with truffle pepper sauce. Melt in your mouth with a bit of pepper kick.

A super complex sake Adam brought.

Erick brought this premium sake back from the brewery in Japan.

Another special aged sake Adam brought.

Some opted for the sashimi plate.

Blue fin sushi. Bordering over to chu-toro. Just a lovely bit of sushi.

Sea bass. To die for.

Amberjack. Amazing.

Chu or O toro. Lethal. We had about 4 pieces of this each.

Uber handroll. Uni, king crab, toro, shiso. You’ve never had a handroll quite like this powerhouse! Had two of these. The second one almost gave me a gout attack!

A small taste of baby peach sorbet. Super light and refreshing.

“Only” 16 bottles of wine. 10 people. Great stuff tonight too. No bad or spoiled wines. Stuff was great in all 4 categories: champ, white burg, red burg, and sake. Just some really stellar drinks.

Plus, food-wise, this was one of my best meals this year — really quite excellent — and regular readers know I have more than my share of great meals. A really great format. A total blow out and Yama’s cuisine keeps gaining in strength and power. Really quite incomparable.

Oh, and that toro cheese dish and foie gras “ramen” are just to die for. I’m headed back in July for more.

Click here for more LA sushi reviews,
Or for Foodie Club extravaganzas.

Related posts:

  1. Yamakase Yummy
  2. Yamakase Return
  3. Yamakase – Burghound Bday
  4. Yamakase – Crab Guts are Yummy!
  5. Katana – Stripping it all Down
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Burgundy, Champagne, Foie gras, Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, kobe beef, Krug, Sushi, Truffle, White Burgundy, Wine, Yamakase

Yamakase Yummy

Dec21

Restaurant: Yamakase [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: You wish you knew!

Date: December 17, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Best yet!

_

My Foodie Club Yamakase meal last May was so good, we just had to go back before the year was out.

Again we had the whole place, but it’s a new place, having moved a little closer to my house into a space that is perhaps twice as large. Now that’s still small, but they have about 4-5 feet behind you instead of 18 inches and there is a section beyond the 11-12 person sushi bar with a couple of tables. No one else was there besides our 12, so we just used those tables for wine staging.

2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Millésimé. A nice youthful vintage Champy.

Homemade sesame tofu, Momotaro tomato, and uni. A “typical” Yamakase uni/tofu dish. Great interplay of textures and flavors.

From my cellar: 1990 Louis Jadot Bâtard-Montrachet. 94 points. Superb rich butterscotch nose. Medium gold in color. Not oxidized. Classic batard richness and oiliness. Still some fruit but the oak becames more prominent with time.

Abalone with eel sauce. The crunchy chewy mollusk simply served and delicious.

From my cellar: 1995 Pierre Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 89 points. This was a nice Perrieres, showing round yellow fruit and slight florals, although it could have used a bit more acidity. I’ve had 3 bottles of this before, and this was the weakest yet.

Persimmon butter sandwich. This is an odd one, but delicious. The orange stripes are dried persimmon which has been hung to dry for months. This is a traditional Japanese New Year preparation and very highly prized. The lighter stripe is frozen high end butter! Almost like a little petite four.

1996 Verget Corton-Charlemagne. VM 91+. Extremely reticent aromas of Granny Smith apple and white chocolate. Vibrant and powerful, but hermetically sealed today. All sinewy structure, with a blazing mineral character and a slightly hard green edge. I’m a bit less confident about the future of this wine than I was a year ago. But certainly true to its terroir.

Lobster, baby peach, scallop, seaweed. I loved the sweet/tangy sauce too. Very lovely.

2002 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 93. Brilliant and ultra fine aromas of green apples and limestone lead to almost Chablis-like intensity and razor-sharp, incredibly delineated, chiseled flavors that offer superb texture and an almost chewy finish. This is quite different from many examples of 2002 Corton-Charlemagne as this more of a world class gymnast than a weight lifter as it’s sleek, silky and taut plus the delineation is like a hot knife through butter. In short, this is reference standard Corton-Charlemagne and highly recommended.

Oyster, uni, quail egg, caviar. One of these super Yamakase spoons of crazy umami-rich ingredients.

2005 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Burghound 94. A strikingly complex nose of green apple fruit, pear and a distinct floral note complements perfectly the hugely powerful flavors brimming with dry extract and built on a base of solid minerality. This is a borderline massive wine that is textured, concentrated and sleekly muscled yet it remains precise, pure and balanced with positively huge length. A very impressive wine that could actually surprise to the upside as the underlying material here is as good as any 2005 Corton-Charlemagne.

Cod sperm sack. Oh yeah, looks like a miniature brain. Filled with creamy cod sperm goodness. This was just steamed and served with a light ponzu. If you can get over the look and idea of it, it was delicious.

2004 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. VM 95+. Pale, bright color. A quintessence of Corton-Charlemagne dirt on the nose: stone fruits, lemon, iodine, ginger, minerals and mint, all complicated by a musky, leesy note that reminded me of a Coche-Dury wine. Then compellingly dense and penetrating in the mouth, with captivating, soil-driven flavors of raw pineapple, white peach, white flowers and crushed rock; a sulfidey complexity and a saline element add to the wine’s spectacular subtle complexity. Hardly a blockbuster but conveys an impression of great solidity. This remarkably precise wine coats the palate with dusty stone and leaves behind a suggestion of honey. My sample at Bouchard in early June was painfully young and closed though obviously outstanding, but this bottle, tasted in New York in August, was spectacular. (Incidentally, my following notes on the Chevalier-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte and Montrachet were from bottles tasted at Bouchard-also quite backward at the time-and I would expect my scores to prove to be conservative.)

Glass fish wrapped in shiso leaf, with shiso flowers and a light tangy sauce. I’ve never had the shiso flowers, which carried a light shiso flavor. I love shiso.

1995 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 93. An extremely fresh anise-infused nose features the classic ripe honeysuckle and subtle spiced citrus aromas that continue onto the very rich, generous and lightly mineral suffused medium-bodied flavors that coat the palate with dry extract on the impressively long finish. This is lovely and displays no botrytis notes and for my taste, this could benefit from another year or two of cellar time and then drink well for at least another decade in this format.

Frozen toro and blue crab on toast. This toast and rich toro/crab combo is so good. Like a super high end version of a tuna sandwich.

Yama-san working with his beef.

1969 Remoissenet Père et Fils Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts. 93 points. Step up in finesse and elegance on the palate (not always associated with Malconsorts). This remains powerfully tannic but it is ripe although tannins are a touch rustic on the finish. Overall this has terrific full flavour and is in outstanding condition.

Sliced seared beef with ponzu and chives. A very light delicious beef carpaccio.

2003 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 90-2. Very pale, green-tinged color. Pure, reticent nose hints at cold steel and lime. Dense, sweet and vibrant, with enticingflavors of white peach, minerals and spring flowers. Finishes bright and very long, with an almost tannic impression of power.

Truffle, crab, quail egg, uni parfait. Classic Yamakase greatness.

2004 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 97. Racy, silky and vibrant in the glass, the 2004 Dom Pérignon is all about energy. Here the flavors are bright and delineated throughout, with veins of acidity and minerality that give the wine its sense of drive. Mint, rosemary and yellow-fleshed fruits linger on the finish with the classic DP reductive overtones that are such a signature. Once again, the 2004 Dom Pérignon truly shines. The 2004 Dom Pérignon is a wine to treasure over the next thirty or so years.

Hokkaido scallops with Japanese roe and olive oil and yuzu. The sauce elements worked together like a dressing and then combined with the soft scallop and the slightly chewy umami of the roe into an amazing concoction.

The olive oil was from Eisele vinyard! Yeah, like the WOTN the previous week at the California dinner.

Krug Champagne Brut Rosé. Burghound 94. Medium rosé hue. A cool, restrained and highly complex nose that is not especially fruity displays a moderate yeast character along with slightly exotic aromas of mandarin orange and Asian tea, all wrapped in an enveloping array of beguiling rose petal scents. There is very good richness with a relatively firm supporting mousse that adds to the impression of richness to the superbly complex and highly textured flavors, indeed one could aptly describe this as more wine that Champagne. As such this is indeed a sumptuous Krug rosé that is difficult to resist already though it should reward extended keeping if desired.

Bluefin tuna, caviar, pine nuts. Some of the best chunks of tuna I’ve had.

1999 Sine Qua Non Tarantella. VM 92. Slightly hazy pale gold color. Captivating, soil-inflected, but rather restrained nose combines gunflint, nuts, smoke and stone. Then wonderfully aromatic, rich and vibrant in the mouth, with intense yellow fruits and musky, leesy and mineral nuances. Thick but utterly succulent thanks to lively, perfectly integrated acids. Long, palate-saturating finish. Potentially Manfred Krankl’s best dry white wine since his 1995 The Bride.

Yellowfin or some similar fish lightly flash boiled and then served with a lovely vinegar based sauce. The fish was melt in your mouth.

2004 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos (magnum). Burghound 95. This too is ultra pure and fine with its nose of wet stone, white flower, sea water and iodine that precedes delicious, full, detailed and impeccably well balanced flavors that are tight but long with a laser-like sense of focus and coherency. This too finishes with noticeable austerity yet there is real freshness and presence, indeed vibrancy here. The ’04 Le Clos will require at least 5 to 7 years to really begin to open up but once it does, it should drink well for 15. A stunner of a wine and one of the stars of the vintage that will be a long distance runner.

agavin: sadly, this bottle was corked 🙁

Yama slices truffle cheese.

Foie gras, toro, quail egg, truffle cheese, blue crab. Wow! This dish was absolutely out of this world. Just crazy rich and delicious. You wouldn’t think it works, but it’s amazing.

From my cellar: 2006 Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. AG 94. Mint, white flowers, pastry and yellow orchard fruit meld together in Krug’s NV Grande Cuvée. This is one of the very best versions of the Grande Cuvée I can remember tasting in recent years. The impression of total silkiness on the palate is classic Krug. Even though this release is exceptional today, I would be tempted to cellar a few wines for the future, as the best Grand Cuvées age effortlessly. This release is based on 2006 and includes wines from 11 vintages going back to 1990.

King crab, steamed. Simple steamed fresh crab.

Ron generously brought: 2000 Emmanuel Rouget Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cros Parantoux. Burghound 91-93. Wonderfully aromatic with essence of pinot fruit plus racy and rich flavors, slightly oaky flavors that have abundant material underlying the cool, reserved edge. Complex, long, fine and seamless with a sweet backend that builds in volume. Very impressive for the vintage and this too delivers buckets of marvelously intense sappy extract.

agavin: drinking great, with a real lovely power.

Erick brought: 1991 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin. 92 points. Quite nice for the vintage.

The chef is working on his ramen broth. Notice the noodle bowls ready for filling.

Ultimate ramen bowl. This foie gras based seafood broth was topped with truffles and filled with yummy seafood bits. Underneath are the ramen noodles. There was crab, beef, oyster, and who knows what else in here. Absolutely stunning. So rich. So good.

From my cellar: 1982 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs. Burghound 88. Superb nose of dried rose petals trimmed in minerals and damp earth follow by middle weight, slightly thinning flavors that display excellent complexity and frankly more structure than the mid-palate sap can adequately buffer on the finish. That said, this receives its marks for the sheer breadth of flavors and the clean, pure character. This is a first rate effort in what was a very difficult vintage.

agavin: 94 points. I thought this was drinking great.
 Yama-san cutting the kobe beef.

 This is real Kobe, from Kobe. It comes with a certificate of authenticity that includes the cow’s nose print and stats. Yeah, the actual animal.

Kobe beef with truffle pepper sauce. Melt in your mouth with a bit of pepper kick.

Real wasabi being ground for the sushi.

2001 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chevalier-Montrachet. VM 92. Yellow fruits, smoky oak and a suggestion of truffley earth on the nose. Rich, ripe and smooth, with fruit-driven flavors of white plum and wet stone. Almost deceptively accessible today, as this has softer acidity and a bit less volume and grip than the 2002. Oaky on the finish, but boasts lovely fruit.

2002 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 93. More noticeable wood spice than in the prior wine combines with wonderfully pure green fruit and white pear aromas underscored by intensely stony notes, leading to ripe, chiseled, vibrant, wonderfully precise flavors that offer excellent definition. This really coats the palate and the finish lingers for several minutes. I like the punch here yet the intensity is delivered in an ultra refined, classy and pure style.

Dr Dave brought: 2008 Etienne Sauzet Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 96.  notably more elegant, cooler and more reserved nose of white flower, green apple and ample minerality complements to perfection the silky-textured, pure and stylish medium weight plus flavors that possess excellent volume but also wonderful detail and punch while culminating in an intensely mineral finish of superb intensity while remaining a study in purity and refinement. This is one of those ‘wow’ wines that amazes through transparency and delicacy rather than brute force. Still, don’t be fooled by the finesse as the intensity is such that a deep breath is required after sampling this.

agavin: I’d agree with the 96, this was a VERY sexy Chevy.

Blue fin sushi. Bordering over to chu-toro. Just a lovely bit of sushi.

Amberjack. Amazing.

Sea bass. To die for.

2002 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 94. An expressive, elegant and pure nose of spice, white flower and green fruit aromas are followed by dense, big, rich and explosive full-bodied flavors that are blessed with abundant dry extract and a finish that won’t quit. Not withstanding all of the size and weight, this is impeccably balanced and overall, this continues to display that “wow” factor. Note that like many ’02s at this point, the ’02 Bâtard could certainly be drunk with pleasure but for my taste, I would suggest a few more years in the cellar first. Consistent notes.

From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 93. Big, rich and muscular yet this offers excellent definition with explosive fruit trimmed in obvious anise notes and luxuriant, sappy, dense flavors of uncommon depth and complexity. The finish is rather linear presently yet offers wave after wave of mouthwatering extract, all beautifully framed by more than sufficient buffering acidity. A Bâtard worthy of the name and a great success for the vintage.

From my cellar: 1999 Domaine Jacques Prieur Montrachet. Burghound 93. Young Montrachet can often be quite austere yet this is forward and flashy with expressive aromas of oak spice, orchard fruits and a background note of acacia blossoms followed by large scaled, relatively dense flavors of remarkable complexity and a fine minerality that continues on into the intense and remarkably powerful finish. A very impressive effort.

agavin: so big it probably needs even more time.
 O toro with salt. Wow, wow wow. These might have been rich, but they were some of the best nigiri I’ve had in a long long time. Chef Yama spent a lot of time cutting and probably threw away 2/3 of the fish.

Chu toro. Lethal.

2005 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 95. Here the nose is completely different with pungent and almost aggressively intense green apple aromas infused with an underlying sense of wet stone that is in keeping with the character of the pure, chiseled and fantastically intense full-bodied and muscular flavors that possess serious punch and verve on the equally explosive and very fresh finish. This also has that ‘wow’ sensation because of the beautiful sense of tension that is like a tightly coiled spring. Terrific.

2008 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 95. An almost completely inexpressive but relatively high-toned nose of lemon rind, acacia blossom, ripe peach and apricot gives way to almost painfully intense full-bodied and overtly muscular flavors that offer exceptional richness on the magnificently long, mouth coating and palate staining finish that is wrapped around a very firm core of ripe acidity. Chez Pernot, I typically prefer the Bienvenues but as good as it is, and it is very good, in 2008 I give the nod to the Bâtard, if only by a nose, no pun intended.

Handroll ingredients.

Uber handroll. Uni, king crab, toro, shiso. You’ve never had a handroll quite like this powerhouse!

Emil brought: Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Old Family Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 45.2%. 95 points. This was a great Bourbon and Emil was very generous because these are selling for a lot of money. Perhaps, however, a big glass of this at the end of a meal, after 27 bottles of wine split by 11 people wasn’t such a wise move as my hangover was pretty epic too.

A bit of berry sorbet. Dessert is not a big deal at Yamakase.

27 bottles of wine (well 26, with one being a magnum). 12 people (but 11 real drinkers). Plus a 750 of Bourbon. That 2.34 bottles of wine alone per person. Woah! Great stuff tonight too. Only the 2004 Rav was seriously flawed. We had lots of great whites. The awesome Krug Rose, and the few reds we did open (Yamakase being a white focused cuisine) were stunning. Really great stuff.

Plus, food-wise, this was one of my best meals this year — really quite excellent — and regular readers know I have more than my share of great meals. A really great format. A total blow out and Yama’s cuisine keeps gaining in strength and power. Really quite incomparable.

Oh, and that toro cheese dish and foie gras “ramen” are just to die for.

Click here for more LA sushi reviews,
Or for Foodie Club extravaganzas.

A gift from Kaz at Totoraku. haha

Related posts:

  1. Yamakase – Crab Guts are Yummy!
  2. Yamakase Return
  3. Yamakase – Burghound Bday
  4. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  5. Raw Crab Guts are Yummy
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, Foie gras, Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, Sushi, tori, Truffle, White Burgundy, Yamakase

Drago Centro

Sep11

Restaurant: Drago Centro

Location: 525 S Flower St, Los Angeles, CA 90071. (213) 228-8998

Date: September 3, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great high end Italian

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I’ve been a Drago fan for years. Celistino Drago has even cooked at our house half a dozen times. Hedonist regular Larry has been wanting to setup a formal dinner her at the Downtown location for some some.

We were situated in the “Vault” room, an awesome, huge private room over to the side of the restaurant (past the patio). It featured its own bar and kitchen and a huge table.

Drago went full out with the wine glasses and the like, which is always nice even if I am used to bringing my own.

Our special menu.

The first amuse. Goat cheese and tomato tarts. Even I liked them — and I’m not a tomato fan.

Tuna tartar “sandwiches”. The roe gave this a nice briny flavor.

Pizza Margarita. Gooey cheese!

Special Sicilian olive oil.

On the left the Chef de Cuisine and on the right the Wine Director.

I brought a collection of “interesting” Italian white food wines because this is contrary to the usual surplus of “hearty reds.” And besides, they go with the food.

From my cellar: 2008 Azienda Agricola Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. 91 points. Oxidative nose with some lemon zest and dairy notes as werll as yeast, macadamia, white meat and plaster. With time tropical fruit starts to emerge. Dry and a tad oily palate with deep acidic core and classy round tropical fruit of good concentration. Meadow flowers and wet earth. Some spritz upon opening and this wine needed quite a bit of time to find balance otherwise as well. Very good stuff, but will only get better with further cellaring.

From my cellar: 2010 Paolo Bea Arboreus. 90 points. Normally an intense amber hue, in the 2010 vintage the Arboreus in fact has quite a light color and initial presentation of aromas. The aromas build quickly once the wine is given a few swirls in the glass, revealing a truly magnificent bouquet of honey, white flowers, spices, reduced stone fruits, sweet petrol (a contradiction?), and, yes, cat urine. Mild tannins give the wine excellent body and structure. Great persistence of flavor.

From my cellar: 2011 Paolo Bea Santa Chiara. 95 points. Apple juice to dark amber colour. It showed pre-oxidized white wine characters. Interesting taste of apple, apricot, citrus, white flowers with aroma of smoke, tar, salted fish in between. Full body. Good acidity and rich mineral support. It’s so stylish and unique. Complicated aromatic profile. It kept changing at different temperature. An interesting and enjoyable orange wine.

King crab legs, lemon, basil aioli. Very fresh and simple. Went perfectly with the oxidative Italian whites.

Baby kale and barlett pear salad, pinenuts, shaved ricotta salata, champagne vinaigrette.

1996 Domaine Jean Grivot Richebourg. Burghound 92. A bottle opened in Burggundy showed quite differently than that opened at the big Richebourg tasting held in late 2001 with still reserved but elegant and spicy aromas that offer exceptional purity of expression followed by young, tight and powerful flavors that are racy, fresh and very long. This seems more refined than the bottle at the Richebourg tasting that was very much in a rough and tumble style with big, robust, almost aggressively tannic flavors supported by powerful black fruit and good if not exceptional extract.

agavin: unfortunately our bottle was a bit corked.

2005 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Riserva Granbussia. 95 points. What a glorious wine. One of the best wines of the 2005 vintage I have tasted. The wine displayed great balance, complexity, finesse and focus and finished with considerable length and elegance. The wine is drinking beautifully now and will provide great drinking for the next decade.

From my cellar: 1996 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sperss. 94 points. evolved very nicely. Dark deep fruits with lovely aromatics; funk and brett not a problem with decanting. Amazing complexity, a lot happening in the mid palate and in the finish. Tannins and acidity will carry this forward but certainly enjoyable now.

2001 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Riserva Vecchie Viti dei Capalot e delle Brunate. 94 points. A delicious monster.

Pappardelle, roasted pheasant, morel mushrooms.

With cheese. This has always been one of my favorite pastas at Drago. The al dente bite on the pappardelle and the rich mushroom / pheasant sauce are fabulous. Off season, as this is ideally a winter pasta, but good anytime.

Roasted corn and ricotta agnolotti, parmesan, chile foam.

Truffle!

Prepping the next pasta.

And another.

1996 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia Sassicaia. 93 points.  Fresh, moderately deep ruby-red. Spicy, lively aromas of cinnamon and vanilla. Round in flavor and rather elegantly styled, but doesn’t offer the weight or impact of a major wine.

2003 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Parker 95. Made from a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot, this spectacular 2003 hits all the sweet spots on the palate. A glorious bouquet of cedarwood, jammy black currants, cherries, licorice and truffle is followed by a dense, opulently textured, full-bodied wine with terrific purity and freshness as well as deep, velvety textured tannins. Enjoy this beauty over the next 10-12 years.

2003 Tua Rita Redigaffi Vino da Tavola. Parker 90. Tua Rita’s 2003 Redigaffi, 100% Merlot, opens with notes of over-ripeness on the nose. An initial suggestion of reduction blows of with air. It presents plenty of fruit, chocolate and toasted oak along with a richly concentrated, opulent personality, yet a note of gaminess and hard, unripe tannins ultimately convey the impression of a less polished version of this wine than is normally the case. My preference is to drink Redigaffi on the young side.

2005 De Suduiraut. Parker 93. Tasted blind at the 10-Year On Tasting in Sauternes. The 2005 Château Suduiraut seemed a little out of sorts at first, although it comes together with honey, barley sugar, orange blossom and mineral scents that become more delineated as its aerates. The palate is very intense on the entry. There is a beautiful line of acidity that cuts through the viscous fruit, though the finish does not quite exude the precision of a top vintage, but still delivers that sense of class one expects from this address.

Seared foie gras, porcini mushroom cavatelli. I’m not sure I’ve ever had full on seared foie AND pasta in the same dish. It certainly didn’t suck. I loved the chewy bite from the cavatelli too.

Summer truffle fettuccini.

2006 Ridge Monte Bello. Parker 94+. While it is eclipsed by the brilliance of the 2005, the 2006 Monte Bello (68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc) is a very strong effort. Its dense purple color is followed by copious aromas of creme de cassis, licorice, spice box, and a touch of oak. Well-balanced, dense, pure, layered, and rich, its big, rich style is similar to the 2003. This cuvee should keep for 25-30 years in a cool cellar.

2002 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 100! The 2002 boasts an inky/purple color along with notes of graphite, violets, blackberries, creme de cassis and hints of charcoal and barbecue in addition to a full-bodied, multilayered mouthfeel that builds incrementally with great purity, staggering fruit concentration, and a long, velvety, 50+-second finish. This prodigious effort should continue to drink well for 20+ years.

2001 Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder. Parker 100! An utterly perfect wine that exemplifies this extraordinary vintage for North Coast Bordeaux varietals is the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder, which comes from the Jackson family’s Veeder Peak Vineyard. Unfortunately, slightly less than 300 cases were produced, so availability is limited. A dense opaque blue/purple color is followed by notes of lead pencil shavings, ink, blueberry liqueur, raspberries and black currants. The wine is super intense as well as extremely full-bodied and opulent with great structure, purity and density. (I know this sounds weird, but when I smelled and tasted it, it reminded me of the 2010 La Mission Haut Brion that I had tasted a month earlier, no doubt because of its volcanic/hot rock-like character.) This phenomenal wine is a modern day legend from Napa. Still a youngster in terms of its development, it should hit its peak in another 5-6 years and keep for 30+.

Squab, eggplant, and roasted garlic “risotto alla norma.” Nice gamey chunks of foul. Yarom was hoping for more “meat on the bone action.” Although truth is, I like it like this. These are basically tiny squab versions of duck breast.


Branzino, potato gnocchi, zucchini.

2005 Chateau de Fargues. Parker 95. Tasted blind at the 10-Year On Tasting in Sauternes. The 2005 Château de Fargues has a rich and intense bouquet with layers of honey, dried peach, beeswax and acacia that soar from the glass. The palate is powerful and authoritative: intense botrytis-rich honeyed fruit with compelling mineralité underneath. It fans out in glorious fashion – a stunning de Fargues that is now beginning to show its talents. As I remarked a couple of years ago, just afford it a couple more years so that it can fully absorb the vestiges of oak.

Mascarpone cheesecake.

Chocolate brownie, black mission figs, hazelnuts.

Market mixed fresh berries.

Overall a great evening, although not without its differing opinions in our highly opinionated group.

Service, particularly wine service, was first rate. We had our own dedicated servers and they were on it. For a change, I barely had to pour any wine. They had tons of glasses and worked the wine around in a perfectly timely fashion (extremely rare at big dinners). We did have a bit of a snafu in that we had 2 no-shows and we were very late giving the restaurant notice. Sort of a gray area and we should have sorted it out earlier and let them know.

The room and setting were amazing.

Food was for the most part great. The pastas were all fabulous. I was disappointed though in the desserts. Instead of those minis I would have preferred normal sized desserts that were striped around. I never find that minis like that are the best. The cheesecake was pretty good, but it was just one little morsel. Fruit never does it for me :-).

Wines were pretty good. I loved the whites, although they are perhaps too sophisticated for everyone’s palette. Was bummed the Richebourg was corked. We could have used some Brunello. I loved all the Nebbiolos. The super Tuscans were good too, but not as good as the Piedmontese wines. I didn’t think the big Americans really belonged, even though they were very good wines. They just don’t pair well with Italian. Too extracted. But of course the “hearty red” crew adored them — which is their prerogative.

This dinner was similar in many ways to the recent Michael’s dinner. Michaels was a slightly better deal, as we had more courses for less money. Maybe the DTLA markup, haha. Both have great food and which was better varied on a course by course basis. Michael’s had a more Italian wine lineup (which is our doing, not the restaurant’s), but we had a few off wines that night. Tonight only the Riche (cry) was corked.

Great evening!

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Drago New Years
  2. Sicilian Style – Drago
  3. More Drago – Via Alloro
  4. Oceans of Wine
  5. Lofty Heights
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Drago Centro, DTLA, Foie gras, hedonists, Italian cuisine, Wine

Yamakase Return

May22

Restaurant: Yamakase [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: You wish you knew!

Date: May 15, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Even better than last time!

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I’ve been meaning to get back to Yamakase for forever (2 years) and finally got around to booking the whole place again (which is really the only way to go!). The Foodie Club easily jammed in here. Not that 11 seats are that much to fill for such a great place.

This is the kitchen. Well it’s also half the room.


Yamakase is the brainchild of chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto and video game executive Stan Liu. Here Yama-san scoops out some Japanese Uni. The restaurant is Omakase only, serving up a single seating of epic creative Japanese Kaiseki/sushi.

Those little white squiggles are some kind of seasonal baby fish. Accompanied by Hokkaido uni, some kind of homemade tofu, green onions, and I don’t know what else. This is typical of the Yama style, a mixture of richness and various sea-born textures. Very very umami.

This is the pescatarian (no shell fish version) with a special kelp.

Baby eels. Seasonal baby eels with caviar and a kind of slightly spicy mayo sauce. One baby sea creature not being enough, we have the eels, which are almost like mung bean noodles in consistency. This was bowl licking good.

Sea bass. Instead of the eels.

Uni and baby fish. The fish are wrapped in shiso and drizzled with a puree of avocado or asparagus or something like that. Delicious.

Abalone. The softest abalone I think I’ve ever had.

Perhaps Amberjack. Another replacement for the abalone.

Sashimi. This delicate fish was with a slightly tangy sauce. Amazing again.

Japanese scallop. With a light lemony sauce. Absolutely amazing.

A whitefish with a similar sauce.

Bluefin tuna, caviar, pine nuts. Some of the best chunks of tuna I’ve had.

Bonito. Again in a lovely vinegar based sauce. The fish was melt in your mouth.

Various marinated seafood. Scallop, two kinds of shrimp, and a pickled baby peach.

A version with no shellfish.

Oyster spoon. Kushi Oyster, quail egg, uni, caviar. This single taste shot is an amazing combination of umami flavors.

The chef chunks up some foie gras.

Eggplant and Foie. Foie gras, caviar, Japanese eggplant.

Toro rules. Chopped toro on eggplant.

Floored. Chopped toro, crab guts and meat, quail egg, and truffle cheese. Yeah, truffle cheese. This dish was absolutely out of this world. Just crazy rich and delicious.

Various spoons of toro, cheese, and quail egg.

This hairy crab from Hokkaido was still alive when we arrived.

Yama sets to work on them after steaming.

Served up steamed, simple, but delicious.

Red mullet or snapper cooked up in foil with mushrooms. The fungus turned into a lovely broth.

Ultimate bowl. This foie gras based seafood broth was topped with truffles and filled with yummy seafood bits. Absolutely stunning. So rich. So good.

A more classic fish-based dashi soup.

Toro “Sandwich”. A slab of frozen toro on top of uni on top of some toast. Wow.

Yama flames up some beef.

Yama slices the beef. True Kobe wagyu.

Wagyu with truffles. Simply cooked, with a bit of a soy based sauce. Wow.

Toro with truffles and sea salt. Wow. This was just amazing. Very salty though.

Blue fin tuna sushi. Mouth watering.

Amberjack. Amazing.

Sea bass. To die for.

Chu toro. Lethal.

O toro. Even better.

O toro with salt. Wow, wow wow. These might have been rich, but they were some of the best nigiri I’ve had in a long long time. Chef Yama spent a lot of time cutting and probably threw away 2/3 of the fish.

A dessert sorbet. Baby Japanese peach (in season) with yuzu and mint. Very light and refreshing.

This was one of my best meals in a long time — really quite excellent — and regular readers know I have more than my share of great meals. A really great format. The restaurant is only 11 seats. This made for a really fun time. We were there from 7 to midnight too. A total blow out.

Oh, and that toro cheese dish and foie gras “stew” were some of the best dishes I’ve had in forever.

Click here for more LA sushi reviews,
Or for Foodie Club extravaganzas.

The one and only (and very attentive) server

Related posts:

  1. Yamakase – Crab Guts are Yummy!
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  3. N/Naka – Farewell to Foie
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  5. Go Sushi Goes To Lunch
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, Foie gras, Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, Sushi, toro, Truffle, Yamakase

Japanese in China – Izakaya Akatora

Jan28

Restaurant: Izakaya Akatora

Location:115 W Main St. Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 943-7872

Date: January 22, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese fusion

Rating: Tasty culinary mashup

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Us Hedonists are pals with Michael Cardenas and so when he opened this new Izakaya (Japanese for “there is beer here”) in our home turf (the San Gabriel Valley) we zipped right on out for a big dinner.


The pubby interior.


NV Jérôme Prévost La Closerie “Fac Simile” Les Beguines. AG 94+. Layers of delicately scented, perfumed fruit caress the palate as the NV (2009) Extra Brut Rose Les Beguines Fac-Simile shows off its incredible textural finesse and pure pedigree. Mint, sweet spices and red berries are some of the many notes that are woven together in a fabric of nearly indescribable elegance. Prevost’s Rose is at times a powerful wine, but the 2009 is all about delicacy and understatement. If you haven’t guessed, I loved it. Prévost makes his Rose by adding one barrel of Pinot Meunier vinified on the skins to his blanc cuvée. Disgorged October 2011.


NV G. H. Mumm & Cie Champagne Mumm de Cramant. IWC 90. Limpid yellow. Vibrant minerally, floral lemon and orange scents, with deeper pear and melon nuances coming up with air. Tangy and precise on entry, then fleshier in the mid-palate, offering sappy orchard and candied citrus fruit flavors with notes of chamomile and anise adding complexity. Closes smooth and long, with lingering toastiness and a hint of sweet butter.


The specials are on the board.


2008 Veyder-Malberg Grüner Veltliner Loibner Loibenberg. agavin 95. Amazing Gruner. Really nice with a ton of minerality.


Oyster with uni and caviar with ponzu.


From my cellar: 2002 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 93. This too is very opulent with a richness and breadth of aromas that is dazzling in their sheer range. Big, powerful, very masculine and exceptionally intense flavors blessed with huge extract but despite the size and weight, this also has the best acid/fruit balance of any of these 1ers plus this absolutely coats and stains the palate. In fact, there is an interesting textural quality by virtue of all the sap yet the finish is quite dry. A great effort that explodes on the backend and lingers for minutes.


Poke! Everyone’s favorite chopped and spiced tuna.


2003 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. IWC 94. Chartreuse-like herbal essences and citrus aromas. Lemon-lime sorbet on the pure, polished, elegant palate, which today is slightly dominated by sheer youthful sweetness. Inner-mouth aromas of honey and flowers. Offers superb length, with the refinement of fruit and subtle wet stone character typical of the best slate-grown riesling.


Kelp shot. Slimy and quite delicious (lots of vinegar).


2005 Domaine Jomain Puligny-Montrachet. 88 points. Reduced. But could still get the sweet fine spice and citrus fruits.


2013 Guy Saget Vouvray Marie de Beauregard. 89 points. Understated notes reminiscent of off-dry Rieslings. On the palate I get flavors of citrus, sponge cake, and lime with a hint of rind; long, sweet finish, somewhat akin to sweet lemonade perhaps. Medium acidity. Better served somewhat chilled than at room temperature; seems to get a bit flabby as it warms up.


Pork belly with seaweed. Fine, but not the best dish of the night by any means.


2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard. Burghound 93. Like all of the Rhys ’08s, the aromatic complexity of the Alpine is more than just admirable, it’s distinctive as it offers a lacy and pure mélange of cherry and blue berry fruit aromas cut with floral and mild wood notes that precede the backward and moderately austere flavors that are underpinned by firm but not aggressive tannins and excellent length on the balanced finish. While the Alpine is also built to age, it appears that it may come around a bit sooner.


Rice crisps with uni. Yum.


2012 Domaine Eden Pinot Noir. AG 88. The 2012 Pinot Noir is a pretty, silky wine with plenty of near term appeal. Sweet red berries, flowers and spices meld together nicely in the glass. Overall, the Domaine Eden Pinot is forward, bright and nicely done.


Sashimi. Lobster, salmon, toro, scallops, hamachi, and some white fishes. Really very nice fish.


2006 Hundred Acre Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Ancient Way. Fruit bomb!


Wagyu and foie gras potstickers. Both absolutely fabulous.


From my cellar: 1991 Camille Giroud Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. 93 points. Nice classic Vosne nose and spicy palette. Just reaching real maturity.


Pop corn shrimp with spicy ponzu. The usual guilty pleasure.


Sebastian wanted some sake!


Sushi. Besides some of the usual, there was some great uni, then foie gras! then toro. The foie was crazy. In fact, the city is foie crazy because of the ban lifting.


The lobster head returns as lobster miso.


Roll with uni and caviar. Notice a theme?


2002 Gary Farrell Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County Selection. 88 points. Still lots of acidity, which was a surprise. I would hold for a few years if it’s been temp controlled. Post- a decant, it’s apparent this is quality juice, but there wasn’t anything memorable. Lacks identity.


Blue crab handroll. Lump crab meat, little or no mayo.


2003 Château Rieussec. IWC 92-95. Medium yellow-gold. Reticent but pure aromas of fruit salad, spices and vanilla, lifted by floral and mineral nuances. Wonderfully honeyed, fat fruit flavors are complemented by cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. The sexy oak treatment gives lift to the wine. A bit youthfully aggressive but very long on the back end, showing vanillin oak and a bit of warmth. But this one offers superb potential.


Sweet potato cake with ice cream. Really sweet!

Overall, Akatora was a really fun night. Service was amazing (friends of the chef and manager and all — haha) and the food was quite good. It leans a little on uni, but I’m not complaining. Everyone loved it so much we already have a second dinner scheduled.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

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By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Foie gras, hedonists, Izakaya Akatora, Japanese cuisine, Sushi, Wine

Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun

May06

Restaurant: Kali Dining [1, 2, 3]

Location: Beverly Hills

Date: April 25, 2014

Cuisine: New American

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Who says wine is just for diner, today I was invited to a Châteauneuf-du-Pape themed lunch with food cooked by chef Kevin Meehan of Kali Dining. Who says you can’t drink before 5?!?

2012 Mas de Gourgonnier Les Baux-de-Provence Rosé. Hard to find, but a picture perfect afternoon wine.

1978 Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape. 91 points. View from the Cellar 95. Medium garnet colour, very bright and clear. Mature nose of medium intensity, with dried fruit, wet cedar wood and earthy forest floor, incense and sweet spice. Palate is medium bodied, elegant and velvety with dried plummy fruit, notes of chocolate, some floral nuances and sweet spice. Finish is medium with just a hint of tannins. Acidity is medium and mouthfell is velvety. Complete mature and complex wine, lovely.

1981 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 95. One of the all-time great classics, the 1981 is fully mature and should be consumed. It’s a big, sweet, candied fruit bomb offering notes of smoke, pepper, dried herbs, truffles, leather, cedar, as well as black and red currants. Full-bodied and opulent, it is one of the most delicious, complex, and stunning Beaucastels ever made. Anyone who has magnums of this wine has the equivalent of liquid gold. Out of regular bottle, I would recommend consumption over the next several years. agavin: pretty wow for a 33 year old CNDP!

From my cellar: 1985 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 91-93. One of the most charming Beaucastels since it was first bottled (and still holding on today), is the gorgeous 1985. Its medium ruby color reveals considerable amber/pink at the edge. This offering demonstrates that a wine does not need a lot of tannin and power to age well; it’s all about balance. Velvety-textured, opulent, sweet, and appealing, this remains a classic Beaucastel.

1990 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 96. Two great back to back vintages are the 1990 and 1989. The more developed 1990 boasts an incredible perfume of hickory wood, coffee, smoked meat, Asian spices, black cherries, and blackberries. Lush, opulent, and full-bodied, it is a fully mature, profound Beaucastel that will last another 15-20 years.

Foie Gras truffles. They look like chocolate truffles, but each is a solid ball of foie! With truffles, asparagus, and various flowers. Paired perfectly too.

1989 Les Cailloux (Lucien et Andre Brunel) Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 88. Les Cailloux’s regular cuvee has evolved into a blend of 65% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, and 5% miscellaneous varietals aged both in barrel and foudre. The backward 1989 appears to be fully mature. More narrowly constructed than the 1990, it offers up notes of soy, seaweed, lavender, black cherries, figs, and plum-like fruit in a medium-bodied, structured, but delicious style.

1990 Domaine de Beaurenard Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Boisrenard. Parker 95. This wine saw a small amount of aging in new oak cask, resulting in a more international style when released. Still youthful, the dense ruby/purple-colored 1990 exhibits a classy nose of black fruits, spice box, vanillin, and kirsch liqueur. Full-bodied and pure, with a subtle touch of oak, this fleshy, stylized, yet authoritatively flavorful, rich Chateauneuf du Pape has reached its plateau of maturity, where it should remain for 7-8 years.

Venison Carpaccio. Another perfect 10 pairing.

1998 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul. Parker 94-98. The 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee du Mon Aieul is close to full maturity. Dark plum/garnet, with a nose of licorice, lavender, seaweed, blueberry, and black raspberry, the wine is full-bodied, still very fresh, but complex, with silky tannins and a broad, savory mouthfeel. Everything seems resolved, and the wine looks to be at its peak of complexity. It should hold here for another 3-4 years, but last easily for 10-12. In terms of the best vintages of Mon Aieul, I would have to rank the 2003, 2006, and 2007 superior to the 1998, which was the debut vintage of this cuvee from proprietors Jean-Pierre and Thierry Usseglio.

2000 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul. Parker 95. The profound 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul (85% Grenache and the rest equal parts Syrah, Mourvedre, and Cinsault) tips the scales at 15% alcohol. From an old vineyard and cropped at 15 hectoliters per hectare, and aged only in foudre, it boasts a dense purple color in addition to an exquisite nose of violets, minerals, blueberries and blackberries. Pure and concentrated, but atypically tannic, it requires considerable aging as it is one of the vintage’s more backward, broodingly powerful efforts. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2020.

2001 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul. Parker 97. The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul (85% Grenache and equal parts Syrah, Mourvedre, and Cinsault) tips the scales at a prodigious 15.8% alcohol. Half of the wine is aged in neutral wood foudres and the other half in tank prior to being bottled unfined and unfiltered. The sources for Mon Aieul are three vineyard parcels with vines averaging between 75 and 87 years of age. The 2001 is much more structured and backward than the 2000, 1999, or 1998. The color is a dense purple, and the bouquet offers sweet but reserved aromas of blackberries, raspberries, crushed rocks, and kirsch liqueur. It possesses superb texture, enormous body, and tremendous purity as well as overall symmetry. The tannin is high, but it is largely concealed by the wealth of fruit and extract. Give it 3-4 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 15-18. This fabulous 2001 will provide fascinating comparisons when tasted alongside the 2000, 1999, and 1998 over the next 10-15 years.

2003 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul. Parker 97. Deep, layered and rich, the 2003 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de mon Aieul is comprised almost all of Grenache and always comes from three lieux-dits: La Crau, Guigasse and Les Serres. Aged all in tank and showing none of the negative traits of the vintage, it has a rich, meaty bouquet of semi-mature red and black fruits, wild herbs, melted licorice, dusty minerality and roasted beef. Full-bodied, gorgeously pure and seamless, with solid underlying structure and a core of sweet fruit, it is a brilliant wine. I don’t see any upside to holding bottles, yet given the balance, richness and mid-palate depth, it should continue to hold for another 5-8 years and certainly drink nicely well past that.

Mushroom risotto with parmesan crisp. Yum!

2000 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. Parker 95. The 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee may be one of the few 2000s that is better than its 1998 counterpart. A deep ruby/purple color is accompanied by sweet aromas of creme de cassis, kirsch liqueur, cedar, licorice, and pepper. It smells like an open-air Provencal market. Sweet, fat, opulent, and voluptuous, with fabulous fruit concentration, sweet tannin, and a long, 45+ second finish, this powerful, deep, seamless 2000 is impeccably well-balanced. A tour de force in traditional Chateauneuf du Pape, it is accessible now, but should age easily for 15-20 years.

1998 Domaine de la Mordoree Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de la Reine des Bois. Parker 98-99. This wine went through a long closed period. It was sensational to drink a year or two after bottling, then the wood tannins in the wine’s structure took over. It remained in that state until about two years ago, when it began to slightly open up, and now it seems to be coming into full form. It still has a good 10 years of upside, and potentially 20 more years of drinkability. Still dense ruby/purple, with notes of blueberry liqueur intermixed with graphite, smoke, crushed rock, and white flowers, the wine is full-bodied, beautifully pure, and all evidence of any barrique aging has been completely assimilated into the wine’s fruit and character. This is a beauty that is just now living up to its full potential. Bravo!

1998 Henri Bonneau Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins. Parker 96-98. This wine is reminiscent of Roger Sabon’s Le Secret des Sabon, with a style that borders on Italian Amarone. Powerful, full-bodied, alcoholic flavors, redolent with truffle, meat juices, roasted herbs, tar, sweaty saddle leather, plum, and soy, are incredibly complex but also provocative, and no doubt controversial. In the mouth, the wine is fleshy, full-bodied, thick, and juicy, pushing the level of ripeness to the limit. A distinctive and singular effort, as all Henri Bonneau’s wines are, this wine is silky and velvety, but should continue to drink well for another 25-30 years. agavin: My WOTA (afternoon).

Filet with onion puree and potatoes. Great pairing, great dish.

1990 Domaine Deletang Montlouis Moelleux Les Petits Boulay. 91 points. Great stuff for cheese!

Cheeses from Andrew’s Cheese shop in Santa Monica.

The lineup (minus one or two).

The gang (notice the sunny side hat fest).

chef Kevin!

Overall, a delicious afternoon — food and wine both! As a Burgundy nut, a often forget all the Châteauneuf-du-Pape in my cellar, but it’s really great stuff — and so consistent. We didn’t have a mediocre wine today, just good and great ones.

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By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beaucastel, Château de Beaucastel, Chateauneuf du Pape, Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC, Domaine de Beaurenard, Foie gras, Kali Dining, Les Cailloux, lunch, Sauvages, Wine

N/Naka – Farewell to Foie

Jul01

Restaurant: N/Naka [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 3455 S. Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034. 310.836.6252

Date: June 22, 2012

Cuisine: Modern Kaiseki

Rating: Awesome

ANY CHARACTER HERE

It’s been an N/Naka couple of weeks. I was just there three weeks ago for an amazing Omakase. Now the Foodie Club returns for the “Farewell to Foie” dinner. For those of you that live in caves, California is on the verge of banning that most delectable of duck livers due to debatable animal rights issues. Chef Ms. Niki Nakayama has whipped up an entirely foie meal to celebrate the last month of foie!


The setting is elegant, minimalist, and very Japanese.


From my cellar: “The Pinson 2008 Chablis Les Clos displays somewhat detached lanolin, resin, and vanilla from barrel, but also generous citrus tinged with chalk dust and white pepper typical for this site. With a sense of substantiality shared with other wines in its collection as well as a silken texture – yet with plenty of energy and saliva-inducement.” This wine is textbook white burgundy and Chardonnay at its best, flowery and rich in a way that new world Chards almost never achieve. But, as I was to observe, Chardonnay makes a really poor pairing with foie gras. The richness of the foie begs for something sweet like a Riesling Spatlese.


Saki Zuke (A pairing of something common and something unique) – Custard of Organic Farm-fresh Jidori Chicken Egg and Hudson Valley Foie Gras topped with Seared Foie Gras on a Bed of Shredded Foie Gras, a Sauce of Balsamic Foie Gras Jus and a Flower of Pansy, Gold Leaf.


“Zensai (Main seasonal ingrediant presented as an appetizer) – Torchon of Hudson Valley Foie Gras served with Seared Unagi (Freshwater Eel), Brûléed Black Mission Figs, Roasted Bing Cherries, a Sweep of Bittersweet Chocolate and a Sauce of Cabernet Sauvignon and Bing Cherries and Gelée of Sanbaizu.”


“Modern Zakuri (A modern interpretation of sashimi) – Hokkaido scallops with Hudson Valley Foie Gras Crumbles, Shaved Zest of Fresh Yuzu, garnished with leaves of Baby Red-veined Sorrel from Niki’s Garden and Sprouts of Daikon and Drops of Ponzu Reduction.”


“Otsukuri (Traditional Sashimi) – Live Hirame (Halibut) from Jeju, Korea, thinly sliced with a Flower of Pansy from Niki’s Garden and a Sauce of Foie Gras Ponzu.” The foie in the ponzu added a lovely touch of richness to this otherwise simple sashimi.


“Palate Cleanser – On the Half Shelll, Kumamoto Oyster with Fresh Uni (Sea Urchiin) from Santa Barbara with Ponzu.”


The 2000 Domaine Ponsot Chapelle Chambertin Grand Cru was a spectacular example of grand cru red Burgundy brought by Foodie co-chair EP. Every time I taste a very good burgundy with a little age on it I remember why I love burgs so much. Just spectacular.


“Mushimono (Steamed dish) – Black Abalone from Monterey and Hudson Valley Foie Gras poached in Dashi and served with the Poaching Liquid and Scallions.” This sure is a lot of foie!  The combination was incredible, and the broth even better. Notice that the bowl has a little “spigot” on the right for pouring it out onto a spoon. I spilled some and debated licking it off the table — not kidding.


“Shiizakana (Not bound by tradition, the Chef’s choice dish) – Ravioli stuffed with Diver Scallops from Hokkaido, Japan, Maine Lobster Tail and Hudson Valley Foie Gras with a Sauce of Yuzu Brown Butter.” Absolutely to die for ravioli with a dough much like that of a Har Gow.


“Niku (Meat Course) – Beef Houbayaki – American Wagyu Beef Ribeye Steak topped with Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Scallions on a Sauce of Sweet Red Miso, on a Magnolia Leaf that sits on top of Charcoal.” Rich enough? Wagyu AND foie?


The Magnolia leaf creates a wonderful odor as it smokes too.


For the sushi flights we ordered this ultra premium sake. I’ve had both this semi-sweet version and the same maker’s dry. The semi-sweet is worlds better in my opinion, perhaps the best sake I’ve ever had.

“Palate Cleanser – some marinated fish bit with tomato from Niki’s garden.”


“Shokuji One & Two (Rice dish –Sushi) – Tai (Japanese Snapper), Chu-toro of Big Eye Tuna”


“Aji (Spanish Mackrel), Amaebi (Sweet Shrimp)”


“Seared Toro of Spanish Baby Blue Fin Tuna, Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras topped with a Balsamic Foie Gras Jus Reduction.”


“Shiizakana 2 – Risotto of Unagi (Freshwater Ell) with Unagi Sauce and topped seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras.” Another incredible dish, although just loaded with foie. I love rice with Unagi sauce all by itself and the foie drippings made it 10x better!


“Soba – Buckwheat Noodles in Traditional Soba Broth with Scallions and Jus of Foie Gras.”


“Salmon and seared American Wagyu.” Beef sushi!


“Additional Shokuji/Additional Shokuji/Ochazuke (Rice Dish) – a porridge of .fish, rice, and green tea.” Very mild, pleasant, and settling after all that foie.

“Palate Cleanser – Sorbet of Yuzu”

“Dessert – Crème Brûlée of Black Sesame Seed.” Rich and creamy.

Artisan Hojicha tea.

N/Naka really is a very special place. All the meals I had here were spectacular (here for the first, here for the second, here for the third). But this last was just crazy out of this world. I was actually a little worried before hand that it would be too much foie (like our crazy 27 course truffle dinner), but despite the length (6 hours!), and the insane amount of foie it was actually manageable. And beyond all that, Chef Niki managed to actually enhance every single dish with all that richness. Foie isn’t a typical Japanese ingredient, but it didn’t throw any dish for a loop. Most were extremely memorable and all were fantastic.

Click here to other LA Japanese restaurants.

Or other Foodie Club extravaganzas.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Black Abalone, California, Dashi, Foie gras, Foodie Club, Hokkaido, Hudson Valley, Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Japan, Japanese cuisine, N/Naka, Niki Nakayama, Omakase, Restaurant

Las Vegas – Guy Savoy

May08

Restaurant: Guy Savoy

Location: Cesar’s Palace, Las Vegas

Date: April 14, 2012

Cuisine: French

Rating: Spectacular

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A good friend’s bachelor party brought me back to Las Vegas and that meant: extreme food. On my last trip I sampled  é by José Andrés and Twist by Pierre Gagnaire so this time it was time for Guy Savoy. Guy himself is one of the few and proud Parisian Michelin 3-star chefs (even if he’s originally from Burgundy). The Vegas outpost is overseen by the older chef’s son. It’s tucked  away in a quiet section of the main Cesar’s Palace, near the wedding chapels.


True to its Michelin form, the place has a lot of carts. First to greet us is the champagne and aperitif cart. I’m not really that big a champagne fan, and done off the cart for the table often results in some serious financial hike. But, as you’ll see, you don’t come to Guy Savoy to keep the budget under control!


This first pre-amuse is fois gras and brioche on a stick. Can’t complain about that!


Then I crack open the wine tome. Even though I have recently become an “Italian Wine Specialist” there was very little vino from the boot, so I had to go French.


Jadot is usually very reliable and I have a soft spot for Clos Vougeot. “Charred meat, black currant, and wet stone characterize the bouquet of Jadot’s Clos Vougeot. Savory, salty, brightly-fruited and invigoratingly juicy on the palate, this displays more energy and acidity than I would have expected from the appellation. For all of the clarity and juiciness of this wine’s fruit, grilled meat and stony earthiness combined with the emergence of formidable tannins and subtle but persistent cyanic and iodine notes to turn its formidably long finish somewhat austere.”


Then another amuse, this cheesy “parmesan waffle.”


And the menu. Check out the prices. Because we must, we took out a mortgage, and ordered up the Inspiration Menu.


The amuse was this artichoke soup with black truffle and toasted mushroom bread. A nice start.


Then the bread cart comes around. Just a few varieties. When we failed to remember the 14-16 different types we could choose from on the first recitation the bread boy (who was just a tad creepy) offered to create a “bread tasting” for us, pairing various breads to each food course. How could we refuse?


A few samplings include on the right, bacon brioche!


“Concasse of oysters, seaweed, lemon granite.”


The granite itself is added later. Truthfully, this dish was a revelation. The flavors were pure and intense. Briny oyster and this potent cold lemon thing.


One of our party doesn’t like oysters, so he got this avocado and chickpea variant.


“Santa Barbara Spot Prawn caught in sweet and sour fishnet.” Mostly this just tasted like a very good shrimp with some interesting vegetable texture stuff going on. It was pleasant, but not one of the best dishes.


The shellfish hater got this pea and egg salad. Twice peeled English peas, pea gelee, pea puree, dressed in chive oil. It was then topped with greens some bread and a quail egg.


On my way to visit the elegant little boys room I photoed the “smaller” of the two private dining rooms.


It’s white asparagus season! “White Asparagus and Caviar, Smoked Sabayon.” The sabayon was in the egg. You pour it over the dish.


Voila. A “simple” but spectacular dish. The asparagus and sabayon is similar to the classic Dutch version, but the caviar took it up a notch.


This was a long meal and so we quickly exhausted the Burgundy. This Barolo by old school producer Giacomo Conterno was a bit “underpriced” (if anything in the tome could be called that). Parker 94+ “1999 Barolo Cascina Francia—Medium red. A classic in the making, the 1999 Cascina Francia offers a quintessentially pure expression of Nebbiolo in it aromas of roses, licorice and tar. It is powerful and potent on the palate, where endless layers of sweet fruit blossom with exceptional length. Though I expect it to be relatively accessible within a few years, it will also reward cellaring for several decades, and may ultimately be deserving of a higher score. A great effort. 94+/drink after 2009.”


“Marinated-Grilled Hamachi Aged Sherry Vinegar, Radish Gelee, Eggplant Puree.” The fish was nice but the really interesting bit was the jelly. It was made of radish (hence the color) and tasted somehow so Japanese. It was a very bright and intense flavor and I really liked it.


Next up, “Salmon Iceberg.” Scottish salmon.


“Cooked” on dry ice.


Then dressed with grapefruit bits, bockchoy, and little jelly cubes of something.


Then finished off with a consommé. Spectacular actually. Hot and cold in the same dish and expressed the flavor of the fish wonderfully.


This is the large private room, with a Krug theme. After you win $100,000 in the casino, you can blow it here.


“Seared Dices of Foie Gras with Horseradish, Braised-Grilled Celery Stalk Sepentines, Potato Chips Bouillon.”


Here with the Bouillon added. This was a very nice foie dish, extremely savory, but not overly heavy.


“Lobster Bordelaise, Raw and Cooked Hearts of Palm.” Wow, was this good. The lobster was great lobster, but it was that sauce in the middle. It was as complex as a fine wine!


“Wagyu, Cannellini Bean Puree, Saffron and Marjoram Crust, Sponge Cake.” A very nice beef dish.


Then one of my favorite parts of any serious French meal, Les Fromages.


Some closeups.


And more for good measure.


This is our humble selection. I can’t remember them all but it included Brillat-savarin, one of my favorites.


A relatively lightweight Sauternes. The 1999 Raymond-Lafon. “Aromas of honeyed pineapple/tropical fruit and toasty new oak, as well as an exotic, flashy perfume. The wine possesses an opulent, full-bodied, exotic, lavishly rich personality, and moderate sweetness.”


In the glass. You can tell from the color this isn’t a crazy sticky Sauternes.


This “sunny side up” isn’t actually an egg, but mango and cream! It was pretty great too.


Then this “exotic” tapioca, avocado, with lime sorbet. Really quite incredible.


Here it is with the sorbet.


Then the chocolate. This was just a simple scoop of incredibly intense and wonderful chocolate gelato.


And a bit of earl grey ice cream, which, even as a non-tea fan, was a subtle and lovely ice cream flavor.


I thought the cheese cart was heaven, but then this came. There are just oodles of little desserts here. When our waiter (a seven foot tall Gaul we nick named “French Lurch”) asked us what we’d like, we said, “yes.”


A different view. There are pots of creme, rice pudding, citrus shooters, homemade marshmellows, pate des fruits, frozen grapes, and all sorts of other yummys.


The pots were among my favorites, particularly the rice pudding.


Strawberry pate, coconut macarons, chocolate things.


Those spongy things on the spoon had a bit of passionfruit to them.


In case the heart wasn’t about to quit, the conac cart!


And finally, a triple expresso. I was worried about falling asleep when we went out clubbing (after this 6pm – midnight meal!) but this puppy kept me up straight to 9am. Given that I was trying to sleep from 5am on, that, perhaps, wasn’t ideal.

Overall, this was a spectacular meal. Much more substantive than é by José Andrés and much more focused and palatable than Twist by Pierre Gagnaire. It was classic “fancy french” updated with spectacular ingredients and very fine flavors. I’ve had a lot of opulent meals and I generally judge them by “consistency” and “impact.” This was highly consistent in that every dish worked. Perhaps the shrimp was the weakest, but it certainly worked. And more importantly, a number of dishes, such as the lobster, oyster, and salmon were mind-blowing and highly memorable. Bravo!

For more Vegas dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Vegas with a Twist
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Barolo, Bread, Caesars Palace, Clos Vougeot, Foie gras, Foodie Club, Guy Savoy, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Nevada, Lobster, Michelin, Nevada, Salmon

Bibou – ThanksGavin 2011 Prequel

Nov24

Restaurant: Bibou BYOB

Location: 1009 South 8th street, Philadelphia PA 19147. 215.965.8290

Date: November 23, 2011

Cuisine: French

Rating: Very good meal

_

And with a blast the ThanksGavin 2011 is off. Canonically, in a tradition developed over the last twenty years, the gavin Thanksgiving weekend is defined by four major meals. The Wednesday night dinner (out somewhere, usually in downtown Philly), the main event on Thursday, the Friday night dinner at my cousin Abbe’s, and the Saturday deli brunch. For this year’s kickoff a downtown intimate French restaurant was chosen.

NOTE: Technically, this is the ThanksGavin/Flitter as my grandparents had two daughters and so they have different married names. But for simplicity I’ll usually just say ThanksGavin.


A light sancerre to begin. Like many Philly restaurants Bibou doesn’t have a liquor license — perfect pour moi — as I can bring without corkage!


Every year I drag out at least a case of wine from my cellar. My favorite opener varietal, real Pinot Noir. the Parker 93. “An assortment of candied cherries explode from the glass of the 2002 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Perrieres. This seductive wine’s character is drenched in black cherry syrup, rocks, and earth. Medium-bodied, it has outstanding depth, concentration, and a long, expressive finish that reveals copious quantities of ripe tannin. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018.”


The menu.


Very nice bread and butter from France.

An uncooked preview of the bone marrow special.


A blockbuster Spanish wine. Parker 94. “The 2007 Valdemuz is 100% Prieto Picudo from vines ranging in age from 100-115 years. For this cuvee 20% whole bunches were utilized with aging for 18 months in new French oak. A glass-coating opaque purple color, it offers up a splendid aromatic array of pain grille, graphite, espresso, truffle, black cherry, and blackberry. Dense, ripe, and concentrated, on the palate it is velvety textured and virtually seamless. This lengthy offering will evolve for another 5-7 years and provide big-time pleasure through 2027 if not longer.”


“Foie gras Duo. Foie gras crème brulée & Seared foie gras with caramelized Seckel pear flavored with lavender.” The left hand side was a fairly traditional prep for foie — but excellent with great texture and a nice meaty / slightly spiced flavor to the fruit. The right had good texture, and was nice, but was more like a custard.

“Escargots. Snail ragout, Fava beans and Trumpet Royale mushroom, flavored with tarragon.”


“Half dozen oysters on the halfshell.” From Maine.


“Gravlax. Arctic char gravlax flavored with rosemary & Meyer lemon, Cucumber & apple brunoise, white lentil hummus.”


“Green salad.”


“Soupe de céleri. Celeriac soup, chestnut purée, poached celeriac in Earl Grey tea.” One of those really good lots of creme with a hint of vegetable soups.


Parker gives this a 92, but I’d put it more like at 95-96. “The 1995 Hermitage La Sizeranne is performing even better out of bottle than it did immediately prior to bottling. It is a full-bodied, dense ruby/purple-colored wine with a sweet, smoky, chocolate, cassis, and tar-scented nose, great fruit intensity, full body, a layered texture, sweet tannin, and good grip. It should be cellared for a minimum of 4-5 years, and will keep for 15-20.”


And decanted in the duck.


“Leg of rabbit with parpadelle and butternut squash.”


“Golden Tilefish. Olive oil poached Golden Tilefish, Brussels sprouts, dried cranberry, sweet carrot emulsion.”


“Truite Arc-en-Ciel. Sautéed Rainbow trout, sauerkraut, Romanesco cabbage, pomegranate,  jus de poulet flavored with lemongrass.”


“Bœuf. Sautéed hanger steak with green peppercorn sauce, sautéed Fingerling potatoes, green asparagus.”


“Canard. Long Island Duck breast, Chanterelle mushroom, Yu-choy, purple potato chips, red wine duck jus.” This was good duck, very tender and flavorful.


A blockbuster argentine wine. As good as I’ve had from there. Parker 94. “Flechas de Los Andes’ 2006 Gran Corte spent 17 months in new French oak. It is opaque purple-colored with legs that ooze down the glass. The aromatics are brooding but expressive with notes of pain grille, pencil lead, spice box, lavender, black cherry, and plum. Opulent, with glossy fruit, this dense, rich effort conceals significant underlying structure. This intense, powerful, lengthy wine demands a minimum of 5-7 years of cellaring and will be at its best from 2015 to 2030.”


The dessert menu.


Classic “Creme brûlée, flavored with vanilla and tobacco leaves.”


French press coffee.


“Mimi’s chocolate cake, caramel sauce.”


“Floating Island with homemade praline and goat milk creme anglais.” This was probably the best Floating Island I’ve ever had. The texture was lighter than air with a very nice nutty flavor.


“Fresh quince pie.” A bit of figs on the side.


“Berry ice cream.”


And to finish, some macaroons and meringues. Both very good.

This was a very good meal. Classically French, yet with a slightly updated palette and a deft touch. If you are in Philadelphia I highly recommend.

For more ThanksGavin meals, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Thanksgiving – The Prequel
  2. ThanksGavin in Review
  3. Passover Seder 2011 – day 1
  4. ThanksGavin 2010 Reprise
  5. Thanksgiving – Pork Insanity
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, Dessert, duck, escargot, Foie gras, French Cuisine, Meyer Lemon, Philadelphia, Pinot noir, Restaurant Review, ThanksGavin, thanksgiving, Wine

Eating Modena – Osteria Francescana

Jun14

Restaurant: Osteria Francescana

Location: Modena, Italy

Date: June 6, 2011

Cuisine: Emilia Romagna

Rating: Amazing Italian Molecular!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Our first fancy meal of the trip was at Osteria Francescana, a modern Italian in Modena with 2 Michelin stars. Francescana has an unusual and creative take on Italian. Most of the dishes have as their basis traditional ones, and the finest local ingredients (in a land rich with fine ingredients), but then they mess playfully with the forms, flavors, and textures. You’ll see.


The restaurant is located in scenic old Modena.


Here is the formal dusgustation menu. There is also an extensive ala carte. We put together a custom (and lengthy) molecular omakase.


First bread course.


We asked the sommelier for recommendations in interesting Italian wines. He started us with this Nero D’Avola, which surprisingly, tasted like a good Burgundy! Arianna Occhipinti bottles Frappato and Nero d’Avola. The two grapes are traditionally blended to make Cerasuolo di Vittoria, which in 2005 became the first style of red wine in Sicily to achieve DOCG status. Only 2 percent of Sicilian wine even merits DOC status (a tier down from DOCG) and only 15 percent is even bottled on the island. Native grape Nero d’Avola gives darkness, and Frappato provides uncommon fragrance. By utilizing native yeasts to begin fermentation, ageing in older and larger oak barrels and farming in adherence to the tenets of biodynamics, Occhipinti finds grace in the fields surrounding Ragusa and Vittoria.


This first dish is meant to represent “rock of the sea” and it’s colored and sweetened with squid ink. Mom says: the black sponge needed more flavor! To be fair, there were supposed to be clams inside, but they were removed to accomodate dietary restrictions.


This is “foam of mortadella di bologna.” Mortadella (seen below) is a classic traditional meat. Here it is basically whipped into a mousse-like consistency and served with a wonderful bit of toasted bread. The meat is spread on the bread and eaten, and it retains the exact flavor profile of the original. This is essentially a baloney sandwich.

Traditional Mortadella.


Various homemade breads and grisini.


Mackerel and salmon eggs.

With a pea soup.

Very tasty!

One of my favorites. The Fois Gras lollipop.


Inside is fois gras, coated with toasted almonds, and injected with a dab of aged balsamic (from Modena of course). This was rich, but pretty much incredible!


This wine was so rare the label is scotch taped on. It tasted like a cross between a Tavel (Rose) and a Pinot Noir, with strong tones of rosewater.


A “tart” of shallots and leeks, with Italian white truffles. This was absolutely delicious, and tasted a bit like Eggplant Bharta, the traditional cooked down eggplant and onion dish from India.


We also mixed in this Moscato, which while still sweet had more subtlety than most of the breed.


This is cod, with sicilian pesto and pistachios. The pesto was tomato and eggplant based. Also yummy.


Parmesan, five ways! This wonderful statement of the varieties of local Parmesan involves taking five different ages of the cheese, and processing them into five different forms and textures. Mouses, foams, sauce, crisp, etc. A very cheesy dish!


This dish was meant to represent a “cow in the pasture.”


It had various spring vegetables, and some fresh cream! Not the most exciting, just lots of types of peas!


This is a “compression of pasta and beans.” There is some fois gras in here too. Which perfectly fine, this was my least favorite dish of the evening.


This 1999 Barbera was rich and smokey, aged such that it had considerable sediment. It tasted like an old barbaresco!


This pasta is a fairly close reinterpretation of Pasta con Sarde. There were anchovies, breadcrumbs, and pesto. The pasta was al dente and the very flavor very refined.


Two raviolis contain cotechino (a very interesting cooked salami-like product) and lentils. The pasta itself was nigh on perfect, and the inside a traditional combination generally eaten at new years in Italy for at least 2500 years – festive pork and beans!


Black cod with potato confit.

A molecular reinterpretation of “bollito misto” (mixed boiled meats). Starting with the clear one at the bottom, and moving clockwise, we have: head, tongue, cheek, belly, tail, and cotechino! This last and the tongue were my favorites, the head and tail my least.


The pre dessert. Yogurt almond galette ice cream, goat cheese, drops of strawberry, mint. Very tasty. Sharp.


The first “real” dessert. Vanilla ice cream, chocolate cake, and a sort of gelatin cover. The taste was a bit like cassata.


Vanilla ice cream.

With fresh local cherries! My wife loved it.


An indication of the damage.

The petite fours, cheesecake, profiteroles, chocolate truffles, passionfruit gele, chocolate with cherry and tea, something with lemon and maybe shiso!


Our meal was so long that we emptied out the room!

This was a fantastic dinner. I happen to love the playful nature of modern molecular cuisine, which you can also see at my reviews of Calima, Saam, and La Terraza. You can also check the other two Michelin 2-star takes I sampled in Italy: La Frasca and Arnolfo. Like Osteria Francescana they both reinterpret their local cuisines (Adriatic seafood and Tuscan respectively) through a modern culinary lens.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  2. Eating Modena – Real Fini Breakfast
  3. Eating Parma – Cocchi Ristorante
  4. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini 2
  5. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, eating-italy, Emilia Romagna, Emilia–Romagna, Foie gras, Italian cuisine, Italian wine, Meat, Michelin Guide, Modena, Nero D'Avola, Osteria Francescana, Sicily, vegetarian

Zengo – Macro Mall Medley

May27

Restaurant: Zengo [1, 2, 3]

Location: 395 Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Tel. 310.899.1000

Date: May 20, 2011

Cuisine: Latin-Asian Fusion

Rating: Color me confused — It’s in a mall, and it’s pretty good.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

As I discussed previously, this is a slightly commercialized but pretty tasty mall restaurant whose appearence has accompanied the rooflift of Santa Monica Place. This one is Latin-Asian fusion. Sort of Asia de Cuba meets Rivera.


The roof terrace is pretty awesome. I wish more places in LA had great outdoor spaces.


“Hot & sour egg drop soup, foie gras-pork dumplings / enoki / green onion.” This is one of two repeats from last time. It had a very inserting note to the sour, from tamarind I think. The richness of the dumplings too is very nice as is the texture of the enoki.


“Crunchy calamari salad, Lemongrass / Mixed greens / Orange-coriander sauce.” This was a tasty salad, mixing a nice dressing with tasty calamari. The batter was very good, with something sweet in it. The fry was a little strong, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good.


“Thai chicken empanadas. Chile poblano / Oaxaca cheese / mango-curry salsa.” These were heavy little fellows, and I mean literally. They weighed about twice what I would’ve expected. They tasted good too, but weren’t exactly light.

“Achiote-hoisin pork arepas, corn masa / avocado / crema fresca.” These are serious flavor bombs. The meat tastes a bit like a good short rib, and goes perfectly with the typical pairing of avocado and crema fresca. There is just a bit of heat from the chilies. This is one of my favorite dishes.


“Chicken Tandoori. Masala-achiote roasted chicken / black bean dal / cilantro & mango salsa.” The chicken itself was so soft it felt (and looked) a bit like shrimp. Tasty too, but not one of my absolute favorites.


“Chipotle-miso glazed black cod. Daikon radish / pea sprots lemon-togarashi aioli.” This is a reinterpreted version of the Nobu Matsuhisa classic. It’s a tad overdone.


“Beef short rib udon noodles. Shitake / Asparagus / Basil / Cilantro / Ginger-hoisin broth.” It’s hard in this picture to see the beef and the noodles underneath, but they’re there. This and the calamari were probably my favorites of the new dishes we tried this time.


Another view of the roof deck.

While this was still a tasty (and reasonably priced) meal, we did better with our selections the previous time. Perhaps that is because we forced ourselves to order some new things when some of the other ones (that we’d tried before) sounded better. I guess we know our own taste because they did!

Related posts:

  1. Mall Eclectic – Zengo
  2. Zengo 2 – part deux
  3. La Sandia
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bixa orellana, Cook, Egg Drop Soup, Foie gras, Fusion cuisine, Latin, Nobu Matsuhisa, Santa Monica California, Santa Monica Place, Soups and Stews, Zengo

Zengo 2 – part deux

Mar08

Restaurant: Zengo [1, 2, 3]

Location: 395 Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Tel. 310.899.1000

Date: March 4, 2011

Cuisine: Latin-Asian Fusion

Rating: Color me confused — It’s in a mall, and it’s pretty good.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

A month to the day after my first visit (REVIEW HERE), I went back to Zengo. As I discussed previously, this is a slightly commercialized but pretty tasty mall restaurant whose appearence has accompanied the rooflift of Santa Monica Place. This one is Latin-Asian fusion. Sort of Asia de Cuba meets Rivera.

Today’s menu. PDF version HERE. The menu is pretty much all tapas style (hooray!) where you order 3 or so dishes per person and share them all.

“Hot & sour egg drop soup, foie gras-pork dumplings / enoki / green onion.” This is one of two repeats from last time. It had a very inserting note to the sour, from tamarind I think. The richness of the dumplings too is very nice as is the texture of the enoki.

“Thai shrimp lettuce wraps, chorizo / peanut / cilantro / tamarind chutney.” The second repeat. All three ingredients are combined like most “Thai wraps.”

Close up. The shrimp has a nice crunch and texture. The sauce is tamarind, and quite sour. Overall very nice.

“Peking duck-daikon tacos, duck confit / curried apple / orange-coriander sauce.” These were YUMMY. The meat was very soft and BBQ flavored. You could hardly tell it from some good Carolina style BBQ-pork, but it wasn’t pork (duck). The sauce is light and sweet, the apple mostly for texture, and the daikon an interesting and very slick and cool (it’s wet) take on a taco.

Close up. The smoked flavor of the meat comes through strong, and it’s darn good. The other elements provide complementary notes and texture.

“Achiote-hoisin pork arepas, corn masa / avocado / crema fresca.” These are serious flavor bombs. The meat tastes a bit like a good short rib, and goes perfectly with the typical pairing of avocado and crema fresca. There is just a bit of heat from the chilies.

“Scallops al mojo de ajo, roasted corn-edamame salsa / bacon, cotija cheese / roasted garlic soy, yuzu-sriracha aioli.” Probably the least successful dish of the lot, but certainly not bad. The scallops themselves were tasty. The rest was like a slightly coleslaw’ish succotash, with bacon chunks. The bacon was really good though — when isn’t it?

“Pork carnitas rice noodles, pork shoulder / mushroom / cashew / soft egg / hot ’n sour sauce.” Another winner. The noodles are tossed first, allowing the poached egg to break an coat them with yolk — Korean style? These overall had a really nice flavor: salty savory. Like Thai egg noodles with meat, but with more things going on.

As I said last thing, Zengo is not subtle cuisine, it’s full of crazy bold flavor combos. But I’m still impressed, and doubly so considering it’s a mall restaurant. The all tapas style menu gets my vote too because I’m sometimes a more is more kind of guy, and I hate getting stuck with just two dishes.

If you enjoyed this, check out the previous REVIEW HERE, or just across the deck the interesting Dimsum Xino.

Related posts:

  1. Mall Eclectic – Zengo
  2. La Cachette Bistro part deux et trois
  3. Finally, Modern Dim sum in Santa Monica
  4. Red Medicine is the Cure
  5. Rustic Canyon 3D
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Barbecue, bbq, Cooking, Egg Drop Soup, Foie gras, Fusion cuisine, Home, Santa Monica California, Santa Monica Place, Zengo

Food as Art: Melisse

Nov04

Restaurant: Melisse [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: March 3, 2010

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Awesome, but heart stopping.

 

I’ve been going to Melisse for years but I could never convince a whole table to try the chef’s “Carte Blanche” menu. Even my ever-patient wife wasn’t up to it. So I went last March with two other glutton gourmands (my Foodie Club) and we went to town. We even added in some supplements. This meal was 7-8 months ago so I apologize for lapses in my memory, hopefully made up for by pretty pictures.

The first Amuse was grapes done two ways, on the right covered in goat cheese and a nut, and on the left spherized.

I brought wine from my cellar as usual. A meal of this magnitude called for a Grand Cru burgundy. In this case a 1995 Mazis-Chambertin. I’ve long been a burg-hound, and this didn’t disappoint.

Melisse has excellent bread in the modern French style. I’m particularly partial to the bacon bread. This meal was also used by both my friend Erick and I as beta testing for our DSLR based food photography. After having to stand back from the table and annoy other guests with a big flash I went out that week and bought a 50mm compact macro lens and a macro flash ring. Now I’m golden. Food is a tricky subject because while it doesn’t move, the natural habitat is often dark and it’s a small subject that must often be filmed from very close (normal lenses don’t like to focus under two feet).

I can’t say I remember what this amuse was, but the Japanese pottery is pretty. If I had to guess I’d say herring or mackerel of some sort.

I think this was Fennel Flan, Valencia Orange Gelee, Cashew Froth. This is the kind of dish Melisse excels at. Things involving cream.

I can’t remember this either, but it’s a good bet here that when something looks creamy or buttery, it tastes great.

“Egg Caviar, Lemon Creme Fraiche and American Osetra Caviar.” A Melisse classic. This has a wonderful creamy/eggy ness.

“Trio of Melisse Foie Gras. Dated Confiture, Pineapple Gastrique, Tarragon.” Because one fois isn’t enough.

In no time the three of us had plowed through the Mazis-Chambertin and I had to pull out the 1989 Lynch Bages. This was the first great wine I ever bought when I began serious collecting (and drinking) in ’96. It’s remained a nostalgic favorite of mine ever since. Parker gives it 95 points and says, “The style of the two vintages for Lynch Bages parallels the style of the 1989 and 1990 Pichon-Longueville-Baron. In both cases, the 1990 is the more forward, flattering, and delicious to drink wine, in contrast to the more massive, backward, tannic, and potentially superior 1989. The opaque purple-colored 1989 is less evolved and showy. However, it looks to be a phenomenal example of Lynch Bages, perhaps the finest vintage in the last 30 years. Oozing with extract, this backward, muscular, dense wine possesses great purity, huge body, and a bulldozer-like power that charges across the palate. It is an enormous wine with unbridled quantities of power and richness. The 1989 requires 5-8 years of cellaring; it should last for three decades. These are two superb efforts from Lynch Bages.”

This is the “Truffle Egg.” It wasn’t on the menu, but I’ve wanted to try one for some time. We were going to each order one but the waiter wisely convinced us to share. It’s a crazy poached egg like thing in a truffle butter sauce with a buttery foam on top. Then…

Fresh black truffles are shaved on top.

Voila! It tastes as good as it looks.

This single shrimp and single stalk of asparagus from a specific California farm was quite excellent. The shrimp was almost lobster-like. Buttery sauce of course.

I think this was a mushroom/scallop soup with a Japanese-like flavor pallete.

And this was a monkfish with various vegetables and sauces.

Sonoma duck, config of leg, and breast. Quail egg. This was really tasty, particularly the breast and everything when smeared in the egg yolk.

Beef of some sort, including the marrow.

And the Carte de fromage. My favorite. Melisse has always had one of the best cheese carts in town.

Get a look at that runny Vacheron or Epoisses in the middle (the orange round one).

We ended up with these.

This was basically strawberries and cream. It was amazing. The strawberry is in gelato/sorbet form.

I think this was “Frozen Passion Fruit Souffle. Pistachio, Coconut, Lemongrass Broth.”

Lest we forget the chocolate, we each got like five kinds. The soufflé had it’s own injector. It’s called “Chocolate, Chocolate, Coffee. Chocolate Souffle, Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch, Coffee and Mascarpone.”

Here in tripple form. Remember this is but the third of several deserts, after the cheese!

Wafer thin mint anyone? These petite-fors were actually a bit lackluster, but who had room anyway. The wild strawberries and creme fraiche were good.

We started at 8pm and left close to 1 am. Look how the dining room appeared during our final courses. This was a very (modern) French meal in a lot of ways, following the classic rule of “never too much butter, never too much cream.” It’s very very good though, if a bit on the rich side.

For another Melisse meal, click here.

Or for other Foodie Club meals, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art: Ludobites 6.0
  2. Food as Art: Calima
  3. Food as Art: The Bazaar
  4. Food as Art: Urwasawa
  5. Food as Art: Sasabune
By: agavin
Comments (6)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Butter, California, Château Lynch-Bages, Cru (wine), Dessert, Foie gras, Food, Foodie Club, French Food, Gourmet, Los Angeles, Lynch Bages, Macro photography, Mazis-Chambertin, Melisse, Restaurant, reviews, Truffles

Food as Art: Ludobites 6.0

Nov03

Restaurant: Ludobites 6.0 [1, 2]

Location: 13355 Ventura Blvd Sherman Oaks, CA 91423.

Date: Nov 02, 2010

Cuisine: Eclectic Modern

Rating: Excellent, but a tad intellectual.

_

Chef Ludovic Lefebvre has been doing this series of “mobile” or “popup” restaurants that appear for 1-2 month stretches in the space of another place. He brings very rapid experimentation to the forefront. While not as polished or perfected as a place like Calima, this is a very creative and tasty avant garde establishment. Oh, and did I mention how hard it is to get a table. I and another foodie friend were spamming the reservation site as they became available for 6.0 and we barely snagged our Tuesday 6:30pm table for six. We’re glad we did.

A Ludo signature COQtail, “Yuzu Tequila Martini.”

Tonight’s menu. We had everything!

I brought the wines from my celar as usual. The 2005 Comte Armand Pommard Clos des Epeneaux. Parker gives it 94-96 points and says, “The 2005 Pommard Clos des Epeneaux was still in three lots segregated by age and location of vines when I tasted – each fascinatingly delicious in itself, and the concentration of the old vines portion in itself almost too severe. Fascinating dark berry, carnal and mineral notes mingle in the nose. Low-tone sirloin meatiness, black cherry, cassis, faintly bitter black chocolate, and toasted hickory inform a glycerin-rich, polished, yet firmly structured palate. Notes of licorice, horehound, and mineral salts add complexity to a finish of palate-staining intensity and grip. This superb Pommard should require 5-7 years of cellaring and reward considerably more.”

This Ludobites has a wine list now, small but good. But I prefer my own cellar. Corkage was a reasonable $15.

“Warm Baguette, Baratte smoked butter, Sardine-Laughing Cow Cheese.” The bread was fantastic. The sardine spread reminded me of good whitefish salad.

“Sea Urchin Roe, Frozen milk, balsamic, orange broth, black rice.” This had a very novel texture, and tasted like… well Uni (sea urchin).

“Oriental Mussels Veloute, Heirloom Tomato, Small Fries.” The fries were to die for, like fresh potato sticks. The mussel veloute was silky smooth, creamy, and delicious. Somewhere between a french cream soup and a very soft Thai green curry.

“Marinated Mackerel, Leche del tigre, baby leeks, verdolagas leaves.” This was a great dish too. The mackerel had a pleasant fishiness to it, but the prep was a bit like a Nobu miso glaze.

“Hamachi, Vietnamese style.” This was my favorite savory dish. The hamachi was nice, but the topping was like some great Vietnamese salad, with spice, interesting texture, and a refreshing citrus note.

“Barely cooked squid noodles, pad Thai, prawn, black radish.” This was weird, but good. Not for the timid eater because of the textures of the raw fish, but I liked it.

“Scallop, Celery Root Remoulade, red port, walnuts, passion fruit.” Tasty. I liked the salid bit (slightly Waldorf slaw-like) best, but I prefer my scallops raw.

“Poached-roasted Foie Gras, Acacia Honey, Autumn fruits, rose flowers.” This was damn yummy. The fruit was one thing, but the pink stuff is some kind of reduced rosewater, and it went great with the Fois, lending it a middle eastern note.

“Salmon ‘a l’huile’ Somen Noodles, carrots, red wine vinaigrette, grilled salmon roe.” This was a really good dish. The salmon was raw sashimi, and the roe like Ikura. The noodles lent it a nice slippery coolness.

“John Dory, potato, herbs, brocollini flowers, green jalapenos nage.” There was nothing wrong with this dish. The fish was succulent and perfectly cooked, but it just wasn’t as exciting as some of the others.
The 2001 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. I’ve long been a fan of this Chateau, even going so far as to visit last year. Then I got to split a free bottle of the 2007 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin (100+ pts). But tonight’s wine Parker gives it a mere 95 and says, “Beaucastel has been on a terrific qualitative roll over the last four vintages, and the 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape (which Francois Perrin feels is similar to the 1990, although I don’t see that as of yet) is a 15,000-case blend of 30% Grenache, 30% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, 10% Counoise, and the balance split among the other permitted varietals of the appellation. This inky/ruby/purple-colored cuvee offers a classic Beaucastel bouquet of new saddle leather, cigar smoke, roasted herbs, black truffles, underbrush, and blackberry as well as cherry fruit. It is a superb, earthy expression of this Mourvedre-dominated cuvee. Full-bodied and powerful, it will undoubtedly close down over the next several years, not to re-emerge for 7-8 years. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2025.”
“Half chicken, poached egg, chanterelles, chorizo.” Tasty and rich, but I was starting to fill up.
“Marinated korean steak, crispy kimchi, bone marrow.” The steak was very rare. Not as good as a great cut at a top Korean BBQ place, but good. The marrow added a nice richness. Starting to get very full.
Onto desert. The “Cold chocolate soup, peanut butter, marshmallow, long pepper chantilly.” This was damn good. The texture and peanut notes of the marshmallow really added.
“Warm carrot cake, coconut, Thai curry, mango sorbet, kaffir lime.” It was weird, but good. The overall flavor profile was like a Thai red curry. The mango sorbet, refreshing as it looked, was actually fairly spicy. The icing stuff tasted like butter icing. Inside the ramekin is Kaffir lime oil. The savory quality of this desert reminded of my first Ludo meal, at Bastide, where I ordered the “Chocolate spaghetti al carbonara,” a desert that actually had pancetta and raw egg cracked over chocolate noodles with a scoop of parmesan ice cream!
ANY CHARACTER HERE
Overall the meal was very very good, although a tad intellectual. A few dishes felt like they were trying too hard without totally paying off. Still, it’s a rare restaurant this creative.
My review of the 2011 Ludobites 7.0.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art: The Bazaar
  2. Food as Art: Urwasawa
  3. Food as Art: Calima
  4. Food as Art: Sasabune
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cooking, Dessert, Fish and Seafood, Foie gras, Food, John Dory, Los Angeles, Ludo, Ludobites 6.0, Ludovic Lefebvre, Mussel, OpenTable, Pad Thai, Restaurant, reviews, Sea urchin
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